Berhane Adere
ETHIOPIA
BIRTHDATE:
July 21, 1973
PERSONAL BEST:
2:20:42 (Chicago, 2006)
WORLD MARATHON MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS:
22Oct06 The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon 1st 2:20:42
23Apr06 Flora London Marathon 4th 2:21:52
CAREER NOTES:
Adere’s career spans more than a decade. She was the African Champion in the 1993 10,000m, and competed in the IAAF World Championships in 1995. At the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and the 2000 Athens Olympics she was 18th and 12th in the 10,000m respectively. In 1998 she was the African Champion and third at the IAAF World Cup.
Adere emerged in 2002 from the shadows of her compatriots Gete Wami and Derartu Tulu by running a world indoor record for the 3000m (8:29.15) and winning the IAAF World Championships Half Marathon title after placing third in 2001. She went on to have a stellar track season with four Golden League wins as well as the African Championships 5000m and the IAAF World Cup 3000m.
In 2003, she won the IAAF World Indoor 3000m, and set an African 5000m record of 14:29.32 at Oslo, just 1.23 seconds outside the World Record. She ran a wonderful race for the IAAF World Championships 10,000m title in 2003 when her 30:04.18 was the third fastest ever and took 13.31 seconds off Tulu’s African record. She then posted a personal best in the half marathon (1:07:32) to earn second in the Great North Run. She set another world indoor record with 14:39.29 in the 5000m in 2004, but was bested by Meseret Defar for the IAAF World Indoor 3000m title.
Even though viewed as one of the favorites for the Olympic 10,000m, Ethiopian authorities withdrew her from their team in 2004, citing loss of form. Despite the disappointment she went on to win the 5000m at the Berlin GP a couple of weeks after the Olympic Games. Back on the national team, she took the 10,000m silver medal at the 2005 IAAF World Championships.
Her first marathon at Rotterdam in 2001 was a major disappointment, but she made up for it in her second effort. Adere kept the women’s field in check at the Flora London Marathon in 2006, finishing just seconds ahead of Galina Bogomolova to place fourth in 2:21:52. She also broke Wami's national record, although Wami took it back at the real-, Berlin Marathon that September.
In her final tune-up for Chicago, Adere won the Great North Run Half-Marathon (South Shields GBR) on October 1 in 1:10:03, 14 seconds ahead of Benita Johnson.
In Chicago, Adere was able to overcome the fast-starting Constantina Tomescu-Dita to win the race, set a new personal record of 2:20:42, and reclaim the Ethiopian national record. It also made her the ninth fastest woman all-time and number two African to Kenyan Catherine Ndereba.
HIGHLIGHTS:
22Apr01 Rotterdam Marathon 15th 2:41:50
