Sport

 

Sports

Cyclists competing in the Tour of Eritrea inAsmara, Eritrea.

In the modern era, the Horn of Africa has produced several world famous sports personalities, including long distance runners such as the world-record holder Kenenisa Bekele and Derartu Tulu, the first Ethiopian woman to win an Olympic gold medal and the only woman to have twice won the 10,000 meter Olympic gold in the short history of the event. One of the most successful runners from the region has been Haile Gebrselassie who was acclaimed as "Athlete of the Year 1998" by theInternational Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). As well as numerous gold medals in various events, Gebrselassie achieved 15 world records and world bests in long and middle distance running, including world record marathon times in 2007 and 2008. Somali athlete Abdi Bilebecame a world champion when he won the 1500m for men at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics, running the final 800m of the race in 1:46.0, the fastest final 800m of any 1,500 meter track race in history.

Eritrea has established the cycling event the Tour of Eritrea.

In recent years, the Somali diaspora produced a football star in Ayub Daud, a midfielder that plays for Juventus in Italy'sSerie A. Zahra Bani, a Somali-Italian javelin thrower, has garnered attention with her performances that so far have earned her adopted Italy a silver medal at the 2005 Mediterranean Games, as has Mo Farah, a Somali-British athlete that took gold for his adopted Great Britain in the 3000m at the 2009 European Indoor Championships in Turin.