Some athletes are born to become part of history. One such athlete was the world’s greatest marathoner and Africa’s first Olympic champion, Ethiopian Abebe Bikila. Bikila won back-to-back gold in the Rome and Tokyo Olympics in the early sixties. Today, the female counterpart to the great Bikila still strides amongst us, Derartu Tulu. Derartu was born during the communist regime that ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991, a time in which the government downplayed the importance of athletics. She came of age athletically just as her country was throwing off the yoke of communist rule andre-dedicating itself to its historic role as a world leader in distance running. During the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, Derartu wrote a new chapter in Olympic history as she found herself in a last lap battle with South Africa’s Elena Meyer for the 10,000 meter gold medal.
Elena Meyer was among the first contingent of South Africans allowed back into Olympic competition after the overthrow of apartheid. So when Derartu sprinted to the lead in the final stretch to win the gold, both she and Elena represented something historic - Derartu as Africa’s first female to earn Olympic gold and Elena as South Africa’s first Olympic medalist. The sight of the two diminutive athletes - one black, one white - circling the Olympic track during their lap of honor, each carrying her nation’s flag on high, became a rallying cry for young women throughout the world. Especially so in Ethiopia, where Derartu’s natural elegance and fierce pride engineered a major shift in Ethiopian society as her victory ushered in a new era in women’s distance running.
In 2000, Derartu won her second Olympic 10,000 meter title in Sydney. She now competes in the marathon even as a new generation of women has taken on the mantel as world-beaters on the track. If Haile is the Emperor of Ethiopian distance running, then Derartu is most assuredly the queen.