Asha Gigi
ETHIOPIA
BIRTHDATE:
October 15, 1973
PERSONAL BEST:
2:26:05 (Paris, 2004)
WORLD MARATHON MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS:
24Sep06 real,- Berlin Marathon 4th 2:32:32
14Aug05 IAAF World Championships Marathon, Helsinki 16th 2:30:38
07Nov04 ING New York City Marathon 13th 2:36:31
31Aug03 IAAF World Championships Marathon, Paris 19th 2:31:01
ADDITIONAL CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
30Sep07 Toronto Marathon 1st 2:33:16
15Apr07 Paris Marathon 4th 2:29:11
09Apr06 Paris Marathon 7th 2:32:35
04Dec05 Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 7th 2:46:14
10Apr05 Paris Marathon 3rd 2:27:38
04Apr04 Paris Marathon 2nd 2:26:05
25Jan04 Osaka International Ladies Marathon 10th 2:34:58
01Jun03 Rock 'n' Roll Marathon San Diego 5th 2:31:39
CAREER NOTES:
Gigi likes Paris, doesn’t she? Just as for the heroine of the 1958 film musical “Gigi”, set in Paris at the turn of the 19th century, there is something about the city that tantalizes her. In the 2003 World Championships she also helped the Ethiopian squad take a team silver behind a Japanese entry that included the individual silver medallist and later Olympic champion, Mizuki Noguchi.
Following her championship debut at the marathon she returned to Paris and recorded her best time to-date as runner-up to Salina Kosgei of Kenya. In Paris for the 2005 race she was one of the experienced marathoners surprised by the Russian Lydia Grigoryeva, running her first marathon in five years.
On international duty again in Helsinki (2005), Gigi and her compatriots finished fourth in the team competition at the World Championships behind winners Kenya, Japan and Britain, the latter’s bronze due largely to the individual gold medal of Paula Radcliffe.
Gigi took fourth place in the 2006 real,- Berlin Marathon in September finishing in 2:32:32. She also contested the Tokyo International Ladies Marathon in November, but did not finish.
After a fourth at Paris in the spring of 2007 she bypassed the fall majors and instead won her first career marathon at Toronto with a course record performance.
She has personal bests of 31:48.31 for 10,000 meters and 1:09:55 for the half-marathon.
