Berhane Adere Debala (Ge'ez: ብርሀኔ አደሬ born 21 July 1973) is a retired Ethiopian long-distance runner who specialised in the 10,000 metres and half marathon. She won the gold medal in the 10,000 m at the 2003 World Championships and silver medals in the event at the 2001 and 2005 World Championships. Berhane claimed gold and silver for the 3,000 metres at the 2003 and 2004 World Indoor Championships, respectively. Her medal in 2003 was Ethiopia’s first world indoor medal in a women’s event. At the half marathon, she was the world champion in 2002, took silver in 2003 and bronze in 2001. She won the Chicago Marathon in 2006 and 2007. Berhane held the world indoor record for the 3,000 m, set in 2002, which was the first sub-8:30 mark run by a woman indoors and the first world indoor record in a distance event by an Ethiopian woman. She also held the world indoor record in the 5,000 m, set in 2004. Berhane works for UNICEF as a goodwill ambassador for girls' education.

Career

Berhane held the African record for the 10,000 metres in a time of 30:04.18, set at the 2003 World Championships, where she won gold. Her record was broken at the 2008 Beijing Olympics by Tirunesh Dibaba, who became the first African woman to run under 30 minutes in the event. She won the 2006 Chicago Marathon with a personal best time of 2:20:42. She won the Chicago Marathon again in 2007 and the Dubai Marathon on 18 January 2008. Berhane also claimed victory in the 2007 Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon. She was the top female finisher in the 2010 Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Marathon, in which she recorded the fastest ever half marathon on American soil with a time of 1:07:52, breaking her previous best by over 25 seconds. At age 36, that should also be the Masters world record. She saw off a challenge from Ana Dulce Félix to win at the Great North Run in September, completing the half marathon in 1:08:49. In 2012, she had two races, both in October in Britain, where she was runner-up at the Great Birmingham Run and third at the Great South Run.

Achievements

International competitions

Personal bests