Elvan Abeylegesse

Elvan Abeylegesse, and Elvan Can born September 11, 1982 is an Ethiopianborn Turkish middle and longdistance running athlete who competes over distances from 1500 metres up to the marathon, and also in cross country. She is the former world recordholder for the 5000 metres, at 1424.68 minutes.

Abeylegesse was born Hewan Abeye on September 11, 1982 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and raised with her seven brothers and sisters. She began her career running cross country. In 1999, she started for the Ethiopian junior team at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Belfast, Northern Ireland and finished ninth. There, she was invited to a meeting in Istanbul, Turkey. Coming to Istanbul, she said that she liked it there very much. I didnt get enough support from my federation in Ethiopia, she said. My track club in Turkey gave me all the support I needed. So I decided to move to Turkey. The support was much better in Istanbul. I thought it would be easier to reach my goals in Turkey. To get Turkish citizenship, she married and took the name Elvan Can. She has since divorced and is now called Elvan Abeylegesse.

Source: Wikipedia