Tiki Gelana

Tiki Gelana

Tiki Gelana at the 2012 Rotterdam Marathon
Personal information
Nationality	Ethiopian
Born	(1987-10-22) 22 October 1987 (age 29) Ethiopia
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	48 kg (106 lb)
Sport
Country	Ethiopia
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Long distance running
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	Half marathon: 1:08:48 (2012) Marathon: 2:18:58 (2012)
Medal record Women's athletics Representing  Ethiopia Olympic Games 2012 London Marathon

Erba Tiki Gelana (born 22 October 1987) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes in marathon races. Her personal best of 2:18:58 hours is the Ethiopian national record for the event. She won the 2011 Amsterdam Marathon and the 2012 Rotterdam Marathon. She won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics with a time of 2:23:07, a new Olympic record.

A cousin of 2000 Olympic marathon champion Gezahegne Abera, Tiki was born in Bekoji, a town renowned for producing top runners. She began competing in road races in Ethiopia and came fourth at the 2004 Great Ethiopian Run. She went to Catalonia in Spain in 2006 and made her debut over the half marathon distance, including wins in Mataró and Terrassa. She won the San Silvestre Barcelonesa 10K race at the end of the year. She travelled to Japan in 2007 and won the 10K at the Sanyo Road Race – her time of 31:54 minutes made her the third fastest Ethiopian that year. She won the 2008 Women First 5K in Addis Ababa in March, then came fourth at the high-profile World 10K Bangalore in May. She debuted on the European track and field circuit that summer and set a 5000 metres best of 15:17.74 minutes at the Internationales Stadionfest and a 10,000 metres best of 31:27.80 minutes at the Ostrava Golden Spike.