Career
She represented Ethiopia at the Summer Olympics in 2000 and 2004. She also competed in the marathon at the World Championships in Athletics four times consecutively from 1997 to 2003. She took the bronze medal two years later at the 1995 All-Africa Games.
Her personal best time of 2:24:29 was set in 2001 at the London Marathon, which earned her fifth place in the rankings.
Alemu returned to the Boston course in both 2004 and 2005, finishing as the runner-up on each occasion. She set a course record of 1:12:57 in her 2005 victory at the San Blas Half Marathon in Puerto Rico.
She was eleventh at the 2009 Chicago Marathon and took a break from competition in the 2010 season. She formed part of an Ethiopian sweep of the 2011 Mumbai Marathon with Koren Yal and Merima Mohammed, placing third in a time of 2:29:04 hours.
Personal bests 5000 metres - 15:59.99 minimum (2000).