Betlhem Desalegn was 20 years old at the time of these Games, and was making her only appearance in Olympic competition . She qualified for the women's 1500 metres event by setting a personal best of 4 minutes, 8.87 seconds at a meet in Casablanca on 9 June 2012. Desalegn trained in Addis Ababa as preparation for the Olympics. Her coach said she could advance beyond the first round due to her light weight and fitness. On 6 August, Desalegn entered the first round of the women's 1500 metres at the Olympic Stadium, and was assigned to run in heat three. She finished the race in a time of 4 minutes, 14.07 seconds, placing 10th out of 11 finishing athletes in her heat. Since the top three in each heat plus the next fifteen fastest runners could make the semi-finals, Deslaegn was eliminated from the competition because she was 28th overall. She said she was disappointed with the result because of a cold slowing her.