Education
Born in Sheno, Oromia Region, his first major international competition was the 2007 World Championships in Osaka where he finished 11th in the heats.
athletics competitor middle-distance runner
Born in Sheno, Oromia Region, his first major international competition was the 2007 World Championships in Osaka where he finished 11th in the heats.
He represented Ethiopia in the event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and holds the Ethiopian record for the mile run. However, the Ethiopian Athletics Federation made an appeal, and the disqualification was reversed, giving Mekonnen the gold medal. He came third in the Dream Mile at the Bislett Games in June with an Ethiopian record of 3:49.72 for the distance.
He gained selection for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but he just missed a place in the 1500 m final as he was eliminated in the semi-finals.
He also improved his 1500 m best to 3:32.18 minutes at the Herculis meeting in Monaco. He entered the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin and reached the 1500 m final.
He competed in both the 1500 m and 3000 m at the season-closer 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final, but failed to medal in either event. His focus of the 2010 season was to retain his world title at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships.
In the buildup to the competition, he ran at the and improved his 1500 m indoor best to 3:33.10 – fifth on the all-time rankings.
Outdoors 1500 metres - 3:32.18 (2009) Mile - 3:48.95 (2009) - Ethiopian Record 3000 metres - 7:32.93 (2009) 5000 metres - 13:07.75 (2009) Indoors 1500 metres - 3:33.10 (2010) - #5 All-Time Mile - 3:54.11 (2009).