Abeba Aregawi Gebretsadik (Amharic: አበባ አረጋዊ; born 5 July 1990) is an Ethiopian-born Swedish middle-distance runner who specialised in the 1,500 metres. She won the silver medal in the 1,500 m at the 2012 Summer Olympics and a gold medal at the World Championships in 2013. She represented Ethiopia internationally until December 2012, and afterwards represented Sweden.
Biography Abeba Aregawi was born in Adigrat, Ethiopia in the Tigray Region. She represented Ethiopia internationally until December 2012, after she became a naturalized Swedish citizen.http://www.svt.se/sport/friidrott/abeba-aregawi-sveriges-stora-guldhopp "Abeba Aregawi Sveriges stora guldhopp" (in Swedish) SVT. 15 August 2013"Här blir hon historisk" (in Swedish) Aftonbladet. 16 August 2013."Aregawis debut nära världsrekordet" (in Swedish) Dagens Nyheter. 16 August 2013. She represented the Stockholm-based club Hammarby IF to January 2016.
Abeba was married to an Ethiopian man with Swedish citizenship and lived in Stockholm from 2009 to 2012. She is now remarried to Yemane Tsegay and lives in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Athletic career 2009 Abeba emerged as an 800 metres runner in 2009 by winning the Ethiopian title in the event ahead of three-time champion Mestawet Tadesse."Ahmed and Kebede sprint for victory". IAAF. 3 May 2009. She competed at a number of European meets after this then set a personal best of 2:01.98 minutes in Tangiers. Her season culminated in an 800 m bronze medal at the 2009 African Junior Athletics Championships, where she finished behind Caster Semenya."African Championships 2009" World Junior Athletics History. 10 June 2012.
2010 She switched to the 1500 metres in the 2010 season and enjoyed success with wins at the Sollentuna Grand Prix and KBC Night of Athletics meetings, setting a personal best of 4:01.96 minutes at the latter race. She also ran on the 2010 Diamond League circuit for the first time, coming fourth at the DN Galan and seventh at the Weltklasse Zurich.
2011 Abeba had a strong indoor season in 2011, with four straight wins in Düsseldorf, Gent, Birmingham and Stockholm, including a personal best run of 4:01.47 minutes. However, she only made one appearance outdoors as her season was stopped due to injury."Abeba Aregawi". Tilastopaja. 10 June 2012.
2012 She emerged as one of the world's top 1500 m runners on the 2012 IAAF Diamond League circuit, she won also overall title of Diamond league 2012: 1500 m. She was second to Genzebe Dibaba at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix,"Liu Xiang and G. Dibaba the standouts in rainy Shanghai". IAAF. 19 May 2012. running a best of 3:59.23 minutes. However, she defeated her rival at the Golden Gala, breaking the Ethiopian national record with a run of 3:56.54 minutes,"Bolt’s blazing 9.76 one of seven world leads on electric night in Rome". IAAF. 31 May 2012 literally days before receiving Swedish citizenship, then won again at the Bislett Games."Bolt’s 9.79 victory tops the charts In Oslo". IAAF. 7 June 2012. Abeba won both the 800 m and the 1500 m for Hammarby IF in the Swedish team championships on June 20. Representing Ethiopia at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Abeba ran the fastest time in the 1500 metres competition. However, that was while winning the second semi-final race. In the slow, strategic final, Abeba came off the final turn a step behind the eventual winner Aslı Çakır Alptekin, but faded badly with 20 meters to go in the final straight, initially finishing fifth. After the race, Alptekin, silver medalist Gamze Bulut and bronze medalist Tatyana Tomashova were all disqualified due to doping violations, and Abeba was subsequently re-allocated the silver medal in 2024.
2013
Abeba contested her first race representing Sweden at international level during the European Indoor Championships in front of her home crowd in Gothenburg, where she won the gold medal. She won the first five Diamond League events and secured the overall title with two races left. She set the Swedish national record in the 1500 at 3:56.60 (just .06 slower than her Ethiopian record the previous season) at the first Diamond League meet in Doha, Qatar. Four weeks later, she added the Swedish record at 800 metres, taking it down to 1:59.20 at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games in Hengelo, Netherlands. Both records took down marks by Malin Ewerlöf-Krepp that were almost 15 years old.
At the World Championships in Moscow Abeba won the gold medal at 1500 metres, Sweden's eighth gold medal since the first championships in 1983."Abeba Aregawi: a new champion in new colors" IAAF. 15 August 2013.
2014 On 6 February, Abeba won the 1500 m race at XL Galan in Ericsson Globe at the time of 3:57.91. The time was a new European indoor record and the second best of all time. During the indoor season she also won the World Indoor Championships and took her third straight gold medal in international championships.
Doping suspension On February 29, 2016, the Swedish Athletics Federation stated that Aregawi had tested positive for the substance (meldonium) in January 2016. She was provisionally suspended from competing the same day. In July 2016, the Swedish Doping Commission lifted her suspension due to insufficient evidence on how long the drug - which was prohibited only January 2016 - takes to be excreted from the body.
Aregawi was officially struck from the list of active athletes by the Swedish Athletics Association on 28 November 2018.
2024-25 After a nine-year hiatus from competition, Aregawi returned to race two road 10K races in 2024. In March 2025, Aregawi finished 3rd at the Lisbon Half Marathon in a time of 1:06:36 to break the Swedish half marathon record. She stated in a press release after, "I plan to compete in both the upcoming European Championships and the World Championships in Japan".
Achievements
International competitions Representing 2012Olympic GamesLondon, United Kingdom2nd1500 m4:11.03Representing 2013European Indoor ChampionshipsGothenburg, Sweden1st1500 m4:04.47World ChampionshipsMoscow, Russia1st1500 m4:02:672014World Indoor ChampionshipsSopot, Poland1st1500 m4:00.61European ChampionshipsZurich, Switzerland2nd1500 m4:05.082015World ChampionshipsBeijing, China6th1500 m4:12.16
Circuit wins and titles Diamond League Overall 1500 metres winner: 2012, 2013
= IAAF Diamond League event
2011 PSD Bank Meeting, Düsseldorf Indoor Flanders Meeting, Ghent Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix, Birmingham XL Galan, Stockholm
2012 Golden Gala, Rome Bislett Games, Oslo Weltklasse, Zürich Diamond League, World Overall winner: 1500 metres women
2013 XL Galan, Stockholm Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix, Doha
Adidas Grand Prix, New York City Golden Gala, Rome Fanny Blankers-Koen Games, Hengelo (800 m) British Grand Prix, Birmingham Athletissima, Lausanne Memorial Van Damme, Brussels Sweden-Finland International, Stockholm Diamond League, World Overall winner: 1500 metres women
2014 XL Galan, Stockholm Shanghai Golden Grand Prix, Shanghai Adidas Grand Prix, New York City ETCH Super League, Braunschweig
Personal bests Event Time (m:s) Venue Competition Date Notes 800 metres 1:59.20 Hengelo, Netherlands FBK Games 8 June 2013 Swedish record 1500 metres (ETH) 3:56.54 Rome, Italy Golden Gala 31 May 2012 Ethiopian record 1500 metres (SWE) 3:56.60 Doha, Qatar Athletic Super GP 10 May 2013 Swedish record 1500 metres indoor 3:57.91 Stockholm, Sweden XL Galan 6 February 2014 Swedish record, 3rd of all time Half marathon 1:06:36 Lisbon, Portugal Lisbon Half Marathon 9 March 2025 Swedish record
References
External links
Diamond League profile Athlete profile