Career
He also competed for Ethiopia in the 1992 Olympics and 1996 Olympics in the marathon. He did not finish in the 1992 games and finished 81st with a time of 2:29 hours in the 1996 Summer Olympics. Mekonnen has the most sub 2:15 marathons of anyone: 32 in all.
When he ran his 28th sub-2:15 marathon he broke the record set by Bill Rodgers.
His best time was 2:07:35 in the 1988 Beijing Marathon, which is still course record.