The story
Born in Sidamo and the younger brother of fellow international runner Ayele Mezgebu, Assefa Mezgebu rose through the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia athletics club to become one of the world's great 10,000m specialists.
He announced himself at just 18 with a stunning double gold, over 5,000m and 10,000m, at the 1996 World Junior Championships in Sydney. Three years later he took bronze in the 10,000m at the 1999 World Championships in Seville, then gold over the same distance at the 1999 All-Africa Games in Johannesburg.
His defining moment came at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where he won bronze in the 10,000m (27:19.75) behind Haile Gebrselassie and Kenya's Paul Tergat in one of the most celebrated finishes in Olympic distance running. A year later he went one better, taking silver at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton (27:53.97), this time beating Gebrselassie himself into third place.
A complete runner, he also medaled at the World Cross Country Championships (bronze 1998, silver 2000), and was honored by the Ethiopian Olympic Committee alongside the nation's Olympic heroes.