Habiba Ghribi

Career Ghribi began her career as a cross country runner and competed in the junior race at the 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships at the age of fifteen, finishing in 46th place (the second best of the Tunisian team). She competed in the senior short race in 2002, finishing in 76th. Ghribi competed at the 2002 African Championships in Athletics in Radès, Tunisia and ended up in 11th place in the 5000 metres final. Ghribi won the gold in the junior race at the 2002 Pan Arab Cross Country Championships. She also went back to the junior race in 2003 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, improving to 23rd place and heading the Tunisian team to 7th place overall. After modest finishes in the World Cross Country short race in the 2004 and 2005, she switched to focus on the 3000 m steeplechase on the track instead when it became a world championship event.

Ghribi took part in her first World Championships in Athletics at the 2005 Helsinki Championships and finished eighth in her heat, not managing to qualify for the women's final but setting a personal best and Tunisian record of 9:51.49 nevertheless. She gained her first major medal in the event the following year, taking the silver medal at the 2006 African Championships in Athletics behind world medallist Jeruto Kiptum

Ghribi's next major competition was the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This was the first time that the Olympics had held a women's steeplechase competition and she greatly improved her record to 9:25.50 in the Olympic heats, but was a little slower in the final and finished 13th overall.

Ghribi competed at a number of major events in 2009, starting with her first ever long race at the 2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships where she finished in 41st place. After this she ran in the 1500 metres at the 2009 Mediterranean Games and achieved a personal best of 4:12.37 on her way to a bronze medal. She made her second world steeplechase appearance at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics and further improved her best by a significant amount in the World final. Her time of 9:12.52 took her up to sixth place. Ghribi closed the year with a performance at the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final results, but she failed to finish the race.

In recognition of her achievements in 2009, Ghribi topped a poll organised by the Arabic language daily Assahafa and was named as the "Best Sportswoman in 2009" in Tunisia.

In September 2015 she ran a personal best, Tunisian national record, African record and the 4th fastest time ever of 9:05.36 at the Memorial van Damme in Brussels, Belgium.

In June 2016, Ghribi was officially named the 2012 Olympic champion in the women's 3000 m steeplechase, several months after the original gold medalist, Yuliya Zaripova of Russia, was disqualified due to a doping violation. As of December 2016, Ghribi was considering legal action to recover at least $38,000 in prize money that Zaripova had received at events from which she was later disqualified.

Personal bests EventTime (m:s)VenueDate1500 metres 4:06.38 Zagreb, Croatia 2 September 20143000 metres 8:52.06 Franconville, France 28 April 20135000 metres 16:12.9 Radès, Tunisia 22 June 20033000 metres steeplechase 9:05.36 Brussels, Belgium 11 September 2015 All information taken from IAAF profile.

Competition record

Personal life Habiba Ghribi married her coach, Khaled Boudhraa, who is of Algerian origin. She announced her divorce after the London Olympics. She later got engaged to athlete Bouabdellah Tahri. On September 30, 2017, Habiba Ghribi married Yassine Saya, a Tunisian businessman. She gave birth to a daughter, Alyssa, on May 2, 2019, in Canada.