Ejegayehu Dibaba

Ejegayehu Dibaba Keneni (Amharic: እጅጋዬሁ ዲባባ;Afaan Oromo: Ijigaayahuu Dibaabaa; born 21 March 1982 in Bekoji) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner.

She is a member of the Oromo ethnic group from the high-altitude Arsi Zone of the Oromia Region. She is the third child of six, her younger sisters Tirunesh and Genzebe are also international long distance athletes, and brother Dejene is marked as a future star. Like her sister Tirunesh, her cousin Derartu Tulu is a double Olympic gold medalist (1992 and 2000).

Ejegayehu beat her cousin to take the silver medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics, her two bronze medals at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics were behind her sister winning the gold in the final sprint.

She took part in a 7 km race at the Memorial Peppe Greco in September 2010 and took second place behind Sylvia Kibet.

Ejegayehu made her debut over the marathon distance at the 2011 Chicago Marathon and, even though she was well-beaten by Liliya Shobukhova (who became the second fastest woman ever), she eventually was ruled the winner after Shobukhova was retroactively disqualified for doping. Her win was the third fastest marathon debut with her time of 2:22:09 hours.