00:00She was stuck at the back of the pack when another runner tripped and sent her violently
00:04slamming into the ground. Sifan picked herself back up and she tried to stay in the race,
00:09but by this point she'd fallen hopelessly far behind. However, Sifan had already overcome so
00:15much to get to this moment. She certainly wasn't going to let this setback destroy her spirit.
00:19See, at just 15 years old, Sifan left her home country of Ethiopia in search of a better life.
00:25She's never spoken publicly about what exactly drove her decision to leave, but in 2008 she
00:31arrived in the Netherlands as a refugee, completely alone. When she arrived, she began teaching herself
00:37to speak Dutch, and she began traveling across the country searching for a place that felt like home.
00:42Eventually, she landed in the city of Eindhoven, where she was pleasantly surprised to meet other
00:46Ethiopians who welcomed her into the local running team, and Sifan began to fall in love with the
00:52sport. At first, it was hard for Sifan to have the discipline to train. She was headstrong and
00:57independent. She didn't want anyone telling her what to do, but the team and coaches could see
01:01her potential, and as they slowly started to gain her trust, she began listening and practicing,
01:06and she started perfecting her technique. By 2013, Sifan had well and truly found her stride,
01:11and when she officially became a Dutch citizen, she was accepted into the Dutch national team.
01:16Sifan started winning local and eventually international championships,
01:20and she was eventually invited to the elite Olympic training centre in Puppendal. By the time the Tokyo
01:25Olympics arrived, Sifan had proven herself as a versatile runner, winning both the 1500 metres
01:31and the 10,000 metres at the world championships in 2019.
01:35Never have we seen a man or woman win the 10,000 metres and the 1500.
01:40Most other runners typically specialise in one or two distances that they feel comfortable with,
01:45but at this point, Sifan felt like she was unstoppable, so she committed herself to running
01:50three long-distance races in the Tokyo Olympics. The 1500 metres, 5000 metres and 10,000 metres,
01:57which is basically unheard of for a single runner. The race where she was tripped was the initial
02:011500 metre qualifying heat. After this heat, Sifan would only have 12 hours to prepare for the 5000 metre
02:08finals, and after that, she'd have one to two days between each remaining event, so she didn't want to push
02:13herself too hard during the qualifiers. But after falling, she was left with little hope of making
02:18it to the finals, and unfortunately, she had no choice but to push herself to her absolute limit.
02:24To the crowd's utter disbelief, Sifan had now pushed all the way from the back, past the other runners,
02:30and it looked like she might actually have a shot of qualifying. But as the runners came down the final
02:35straight, Sifan didn't just qualify, she won. And only 12 hours after this race, she went on to win
02:43gold in the 5000 metre finals, and then later gold again in the 10,000 metre finals. And when she
02:49secured
02:49bronze in the 1500 metre finals, she became the first athlete to ever win a medal in all three events
02:55at a single Olympics.
