Gudisa Shentema
ETHIOPIA
BIRTHDATE:
June 20, 1980
PERSONAL BEST:
2:09:46 (Rotterdam, 2005)
WORLD MARATHON MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS:
25Aug07 IAAF World Championships, Osaka DNF
24Sep06 real,- Berlin Marathon 2nd 2:10:43
13Aug05 IAAF World Championships, Helsinki 13th 2:15:13
ADDITIONAL CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
09Apr06 Fortis Rotterdam 17th 2:17:53
10Apr05 Fortis Rotterdam 4th 2:09:46
11Jan04 Rock 'n' Roll, Tempe, USA 4th 2:15:16
16Oct03 AAG (All-Africa Games), Abuja, Nigeria 3rd 2:27:39
CAREER NOTES:
Most marathon debuts are made in the city races these days, rather than championships. Shentema chose the opposite route, taking a bronze when the 2003 All-African Games were held in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. Conditions there didn’t favor fast times, but he improved his personal best dramatically in Rotterdam in 2005, slicing 5:30 from his performance at Tempe in Arizona. The Rotterdam race in 2005 featured several men familiar with the roads of Berlin, including Jackson Koech who finished runner-up and the 2004 real,-Berlin champion Felix Limo in third.
Shentema was the leading Ethiopian finisher at the 2005 World Championships as they took a team bronze. His return to Rotterdam in 2006 proved but that fall Shentema finished second at the real,- Berlin Marathon behind Haile Gebrselassie in 2:10:43, less than a minute off his PR.
Shentema has also enjoyed some success on the American road scene, winning the 2005 Bolder Boulder 10K (29:21) and Philadelphia Distance Classic Half-Marathon (1:02:23 PR).
PERSONAL NOTES:
Also known as Kudama Gudisa Shentema, his hometown is Ambo, Ethiopia.
