Girma Bekele Gebre
Ethiopian marathon runner
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Girma Bekele Gebre (Amharic: ግርማ በቀለ ገብረ, romanized: Girma Bek’ele Gebre; born 29 December 1992)[1] is an Ethiopian marathon runner who finished third at the 2019 New York City Marathon as a non-elite runner. Gebre also won the 2018 Brooklyn Half Marathon, and came third in the 1,500 metres event at the 2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics.
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| Born | 29 December 1992 Ethiopia | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Personal life
Gebre splits his time between living in New York and Ethiopia. In 2019, he moved back to Ethiopia after the death of one of his brothers.[2][3] His brother Alemu Bekele competed for Bahrain at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics.[4]
Career
When in New York, Gebre competes for the West Side Runners, and has won multiple club races.[2][3] Whilst in Ethiopia, he trains at altitude in Addis Ababa.[2][3] In 2009, Gebre came third in the 1,500 metres event at the 2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics.[5]
In 2016, Gebre came fourth at the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5-K event in New York City.[6] In 2018, Gebre won the Brooklyn Half Marathon, in a time of 1:04:56.[7] In the same year, he finished third at the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5-K event,[4] ninth at the Broad Street Run,[8] and came 19th in the 2018 New York City Marathon.[9] He also came third in the 10k event at the Bermuda Marathon Weekend,[10] and competed in a 5k race in Alexandria, Virginia.[7] In 2019, Gebre finished the Pittsburgh Marathon in a time of 2:13:46.[3]
Gebre entered the 2019 New York City Marathon as a non-elite runner, and had to pay an entry fee for the event, rather than receiving an appearance fee as elite athletes did.[3] Gebre didn't have a sponsor or an agent, and the night before the race, he stayed with a friend in The Bronx and slept on a couch.[3] In the race, he joined the lead pack in Brooklyn, where the elite and non-elite courses met.[3] He was in the front group of five runners after 35 kilometres (22 mi) of the race,[11] and was in the front four after another runner dropped away from the lead pack.[12] He finished third in the race,[3][12] and his finishing time of 2:08:38 was 25 seconds behind race winner Geoffrey Kamworor.[3] He finished ahead of more experienced Ethiopians Tamirat Tola and Shura Kitata,[12] and beat his previous personal best by over five minutes.[2] Gebre won $40,000 for finishing in third place, $15,000 for finishing in under 2:09:00,[2][3] and $5,000 for being the highest ranked runner from New York in the race.[2] Gebre said he would use the money to help his family,[3] and it took him 18 months to receive his prize money, as he doesn't have an American bank account.[13] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gebre worked on a farm in Ethiopia.[13]
Awards
In January 2020, Gebre was awarded the New York Road Runners male runner of the year award.[14]