1996 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships
Race results -- Women 's
Table:
Rank
Athlete
Nationality
Time
Notes

Ren Xiujuan
China
1:10:39

Lidia Simon
Romania
1:10:57

Aurica Buia
Romania
1:11:01

4
Nuta Olaru
Romania
1:11:07

5
Kanako Haginaga
Japan
1:11:18

6
Christine Mallo
France
1:12:24

7
Firiya Sultanova
Russia
1:12:34

8
Heather Turland
Australia
1:12:46

9
Zahia Dahmani
France
1:12:47

10
Lucilla Andreucci
Italy
1:12:50

11
Cristina Pomacu
Romania
1:13:05

12
Zola Pieterse
South Africa
1:13:19

13
Getenesh Urge
Ethiopia
1:13:22

14
Martha Ernstdóttir
Iceland
1:13:27

15
Muriel Linsolas
France
1:13:33

16
Annalisa Scurti
Italy
1:13:41

17
Mayumi Ichikawa
Japan
1:13:42

18
Alla Zhilyayeva
Russia
1:13:47

19
Dorota Gruca-Giezek
Poland
1:14:07

20
Nina Korvryzkina
Ukraine
1:14:28

Consulting the following table and the passages listed below.

Solve the question: What was the nationality of the youngest runner in the marathon ? Respond with the correct answer (omit explanations) in JSON format as {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}. Avoid adding external knowledge.

Ren Xiujuan ( Chinese : 任秀娟 ; pinyin : Rèn Xiùjuān ; born September 14 , 1974 in Dalian , Liaoning ) is a female Chinese long-distance runner who specialized in the marathon . She represented her country twice in the Olympic marathon , having her best placing of ninth in 1996 . She also ranked fifth in the 10,000 metres at the 1997 World Championships in Athletics . She won a global title at the 1996 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships , becoming the first Asian person to win that event . She won the 1995 Beijing Marathon in a time of 2:30:00 and repeated that feat in 1996 , improving to 2:27:13 hours . Her final race in Beijing came in 2001 , when she placed third in 2:24:22 hours - a personal best .
China ( Chinese : 中国 ; pinyin : Zhōngguó ) , officially the People 's Republic of China ( PRC ) , is a country in East Asia and is the world 's most populous country , with a population of around 1.428 billion in 2017 . Covering approximately 9,600,000 square kilometers ( 3,700,000 sq mi ) , it is the third largest country by area . [ j ] Governed by the Communist Party of China , the state exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces , [ k ] five autonomous regions , four direct-controlled municipalities ( Beijing , Tianjin , Shanghai , and Chongqing ) , and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau . China emerged as one of the world 's first civilizations , in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain . For millennia , China 's political system was based on hereditary monarchies , or dynasties , beginning with the semi-mythical Xia dynasty in 21st century BCE . Since then , China has expanded , fractured , and re-unified numerous times . In the 3rd century BCE , the Qin reunited core China and established the first Chinese empire . The succeeding Han dynasty , which ruled from 206 BCE until 220 CE , saw some of the most advanced technology at that time , including papermaking and the compass , along with agricultural and medical improvements . The invention of gunpowder and movable type in the Tang dynasty ( 618-907 ) and Northern Song ( 960-1127 ) completed the Four Great Inventions . Tang culture spread widely in Asia , as the new Silk Route brought traders to as far as Mesopotamia and the Horn of Africa . Dynastic rule ended in 1912 with the Xinhai Revolution , when the Republic of China ( ROC ) replaced the Qing dynasty . China , as a whole , was ravaged by feudal warlordism and Japan during World War II .
Lidia Slăvuțeanu-Șimon ( born 4 September 1973 ) is a Romanian long-distance runner . She competed in the Olympic marathon five times ( 1996-2012 ) , winning a silver medal at the 2000 Olympics . She is also a former marathon world champion .
Romania ( /roʊˈmeɪniə/ ( listen ) ro-MAY-nee-ə ; Romanian : România [ romɨˈni.a ] ( listen ) ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central , Eastern , and Southeastern Europe . It has borders with the Black Sea to the southeast , Bulgaria to the south , Ukraine to the north , Hungary to the west , Serbia to the southwest , and Moldova to the east . It has a predominantly temperate-continental climate . With a total area of 238,397 square kilometers ( 92,046 square miles ) , Romania is the 8th largest country and also the 6th most populous member state of the European Union , having almost 20 million inhabitants . Its capital and largest city is Bucharest , and other major urban areas include Cluj-Napoca , Timișoara , Iași , Constanța , Craiova , Brașov , and Galați . The River Danube , Europe 's second-longest river , rises in Germany 's Black Forest and flows in a general southeast direction for 2,857 km ( 1,775 mi ) , coursing through ten countries before emptying into Romania 's Danube Delta . The Carpathian Mountains , which cross Romania from the north to the southwest , include Moldoveanu Peak , at an altitude of 2,544 m ( 8,346 ft ) . Modern Romania was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia . The new state , officially named Romania since 1866 , gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877 . Following World War I after declaring its neutrality in 1914 , when Romania fought on the side of the Allied powers starting with 1916 , Bukovina , Bessarabia , Transylvania as well as parts of Banat , Crișana , and Maramureș became part of the sovereign Kingdom of Romania . In June-August 1940 , as a consequence of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and Second Vienna Award , Romania was compelled to cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union , and Northern Transylvania to Hungary . In November 1940 , Romania signed the Tripartite Pact and , consequently , in June 1941 entered World War II on the Axis side , fighting against the Soviet Union until August 1944 , when it joined the Allies and recovered Northern Transylvania .
Aurica Buia ( born February 16 , 1970 in Bratovoești , Dolj ) is a retired female long-distance runner from Romania , who specialized in the marathon race during her career . She set her personal best ( 2:31:39 ) in the women 's marathon in Vienna , Austria on April 14 , 1996 .
Nuța Olaru ( born August 28 , 1970 in Orodel , Dolj ) is a female long-distance runner originally from Romania , who became a naturalized United States citizen in November 2012 . She specializes in the marathon race . She set her personal best ( 2:24:33 ) in the women 's marathon in Chicago , IL on October 10 , 2004 . She won the Big Sur Marathon in 2012 , 2013 and 2014 , ran the 2013 Boston Marathon in 2:42:57 and the 2014 Boston Marathon in 2:37:29 . In April 2013 , Olaru teamed up with the product development , ROLL Recovery , in Boulder , Colorado to help develop tools for runners .
Kanako Haginaga ( 萩永 佳奈子 , Haginaga Kanako , born 15 November 1975 ) is a retired Japanese runner who specialized in marathons and cross-country running . She won the silver medal in the junior race at the 1993 Asian Cross Country Championships . At the 1994 World Cross Country Championships she finished eighteenth in the junior race , and won a bronze medal in the team competition . At the 1995 World Cross Country Championships she finished twentieth in the senior race and ended fourth in the team competition . She finished fifth at the 1996 World Half Marathon Championships . Her personal best times were 15:47.3 minutes in the 5000 metres , achieved in May 1996 in Nishinomiya ; 32:18.10 minutes in the 10,000 metres , achieved in May 1995 in Kobe ; and 1:09:47 hours in the half marathon , achieved in July 1996 in Sapporo .
Japan ( Japanese : 日本 , Nippon [ ɲippoꜜɴ ] ( listen ) or Nihon [ ɲihoꜜɴ ] ( listen ) ) is an island country located in East Asia . It is bordered by the Sea of Japan to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east , and spans more than 3,000 kilometers ( 1,900 mi ) along the coast of the continent from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Philippine Sea in the south . Part of the Pacific Ring of Fire , Japan encompasses a stratovolcanic archipelago of about 6,852 islands , with five main islands ( Hokkaido , Honshu , Kyushu , Shikoku , and Okinawa ) comprising 97% of the country 's total area of 377,975 square kilometers ( 145,937 sq mi ) . Japan is officially divided into 47 prefectures and traditionally into eight regions . Approximately two-thirds of the country 's terrain is mountainous and heavily forested , and less than one-eighth of land is suitable for agriculture . Consequently , Japan is among the most densely populated and urbanized countries in the world , with over 90% of its population living in urban areas . The largest of these is the metropolitan area centered on the capital city of Tokyo , which is the most populous in the world and home to more than 38 million people . Japan itself is the world 's eleventh most populous country with a population of 126.2 million , of which 97.8% are ethnically Japanese . The kanji ( or Chinese characters ) that make up the name of Japan in the Japanese language mean sun origin ; in the Western world , the country is often known by the sobriquet Land of the Rising Sun . Periods of influence from other regions , primarily China , followed by periods of isolation , particularly from Western Europe , have characterized the history of Japan . While archaeological evidence indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period , the first written mention of the archipelago appears in Chinese texts from the first century AD . Between the fourth and ninth centuries , the kingdoms of Japan became gradually unified under an Emperor and imperial court based in Heian-kyō ( modern Kyoto ) .
Christine Mallo ( born 26 February 1966 at Orleans ) is a French former athlete , who specialized in the long-distance running . She won the French national title in the half marathon in 1995 . In 1996 , at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Palma de Mallorca , Spain , Mallo placed sixth in the individual event in 1:12:24 , and won the silver medal in the team event alongside her compatriots Zahia Dahmani and Muriel Linsolas . She placed 14th in the marathon at the 1997 IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Athens in the time of 2:40:55 . Her personal best for the marathon , established in 1999 , is 2:31:49 .
France ( French : [ fʁɑ̃s ] ( listen ) ) , officially the French Republic ( French : République française , pronounced [ ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛːz ] ( listen ) ) , is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories . [ XIII ] The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea , and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean . It is bordered by Belgium , Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast , Switzerland and Italy to the east , and Andorra and Spain to the south . The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic , Pacific and Indian oceans . The country 's 18 integral regions ( five of which are situated overseas ) span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres ( 248,573 sq mi ) and a total population of 67.02 million ( as of July 2019 [ update ] ) . France is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris , the country 's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre . Other major urban areas include Lyon , Marseille , Toulouse , Bordeaux , Lille and Nice . France , including its overseas territories , has the most number of time zones of any country , with a total of 12 . During the Iron Age , what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls , a Celtic people . Rome annexed the area in 51 BC , holding it until the arrival of Germanic Franks in 476 , who formed the Kingdom of Francia . The Treaty of Verdun of 843 partitioned Francia into East Francia , Middle Francia and West Francia . West Francia , which became the Kingdom of France in 987 , emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages , following its victory in the Hundred Years ' War ( 1337-1453 ) .
Firaya Rifkatovna Sultanova-Zhdanova ( Russian : Фирая Рифкатовна Султанова-Жданова ; born April 29 , 1961 in Tyukovo , Tatarstan ) is a retired female long-distance runner from Russia . She set her personal best in the women 's marathon on June 21 , 2003 in Duluth , Minnesota , clocking 2:27:05 . Sultanova represented Russia at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta , Georgia , where she failed to reach the final of the women 's 10,000 metres competition .
Russia ( Russian : Росси́я , tr . Rossiya , IPA : [ rɐˈsʲijə ] ) , or the Russian Federation , [ e ] is a European country located in Eastern Europe with a vast expanse of territory that stretches across Northern Asia . At 17,125,200 square kilometres ( 6,612,100 sq mi ) , it is by far the largest country in the world by area , covering more than one-eighth of the Earth 's inhabited land area , spanning eleven time zones , and bordering 16 sovereign nations . The territory of Russia extends from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east , and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea and the Caucasus in the south . With 146.7 million inhabitants living in the country 's 85 federal subjects as of 2020 , Russia is the most populous nation in Europe and the ninth-most populous nation in the world . Russia 's capital and largest city is Moscow ; other major urban areas include Saint Petersburg , Novosibirsk , Yekaterinburg , Nizhny Novgorod , Kazan and Chelyabinsk . The East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD . Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants , the medieval state of Rus arose in the 9th century . In 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire , beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium . Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of smaller states , until it was finally reunified by the Grand Duchy of Moscow in the 15th century . By the 18th century , the nation had greatly expanded through conquest , annexation , and exploration to become the Russian Empire , which was the third largest empire in history , stretching from Poland on the west to Alaska on the east . Following the Russian Revolution , the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic ( Russian SFSR ) became the largest and leading constituent of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( USSR/Soviet Union ) , the world 's first constitutionally socialist state .
Heather Turland ( born 27 April 1960 ) is an Australian former long-distance runner who competed in road running events . Her greatest achievement was a gold medal in the marathon at the 1998 Commonwealth Games . Her personal best for that distance is 2:34:10 hours . She was a recreational runner until 1993 , by which point she had had four children and was over thirty . She ran at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 1994 and 1996 , reaching eighth place at the latter race . She made her marathon debut in 1996 in Frankfurt , coming third in a lifetime best . She went on to represent Australia over that distance at the World Championships in Athletics , coming 20th in 1997 but failing to finish in 1999 . Through her 1998 Commonwealth Games victory , she became the oldest Australian to compete in the event 's athletics programme .
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia , is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent , the island of Tasmania , and numerous smaller islands . It is the largest country in Oceania and the world 's sixth-largest country by total area . The population of 26 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard . Australia 's capital is Canberra , and its largest city is Sydney . The country 's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne , Brisbane , Perth , and Adelaide . Indigenous Australians inhabited the continent for about 65,000 years prior to the first arrival of Dutch explorers in the early 17th century , who named it New Holland . In 1770 , Australia 's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain and initially settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788 , a date which became Australia 's national day . The population grew steadily in subsequent decades , and by the time of an 1850s gold rush , most of the continent had been explored and an additional five self-governing crown colonies established . On 1 January 1901 , the six colonies federated , forming the Commonwealth of Australia . Australia has since maintained a stable liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy , comprising six states and ten territories . Australia is the oldest , flattest , and driest inhabited continent , with the least fertile soils . It has a landmass of 7,617,930 square kilometres ( 2,941,300 sq mi ) .
Zahia Dahmani ( born 2 June 1972 , in Roubaix ) is a former French athlete , who specialized in the long-distance running . Zahia won the French national title for the half marathon in 2001 , the 5000 metres in 1997 , the 10,000 metres in 1997 and 1999 , and 10K run in 1997 and 2000 . In 1996 , during the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Palma , Spain , she won the silver medal in the team event alongside her compatriots Christine Mallo and Muriel Linsolas . At the European Cross Country Championships , she received the team silver medal in 1999 and the bronze team medal in 1996 .
Lucilla Andreucci ( born December 19 , 1969 in Rome ) is a former female long-distance runner from Italy .
Italy ( Italian : Italia [ iˈtaːlja ] ( listen ) ) , officially the Italian Republic ( Italian : Repubblica Italiana [ reˈpubblika itaˈljaːna ] ) , is a European country consisting of a peninsula delimited by the Alps and surrounded by several islands . Italy is located in south-central Europe , and it is also considered a part of Western Europe . The country covers a total area of 301,340 km2 ( 116,350 sq mi ) and shares land borders with France , Switzerland , Austria , Slovenia , and the enclaved microstates of Vatican City and San Marino . Italy has a territorial exclave in Switzerland ( Campione ) and a maritime exclave in the Tunisian Sea ( Lampedusa ) . With around 60 million inhabitants , Italy is the third-most populous member state of the European Union . The capital and largest city is Rome ; other major cities are Milan , Naples , Turin , Palermo , Genoa , Bologna , Florence and Venice . Due to its central geographic location in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean , Italy has historically been home to myriad peoples and cultures . In addition to the various ancient peoples dispersed throughout what is now modern-day Italy , the most predominant being the Indo-European Italic peoples who gave the peninsula its name , beginning from the classical era , Phoenicians and Carthaginians founded colonies mostly in insular Italy , Greeks established settlements in the so-called Magna Graecia of Southern Italy , while Etruscans and Celts inhabited central and northern Italy respectively . An Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom in the 8th century BC , which eventually became a republic with a government of the Senate and the People . The Roman Republic initially conquered and assimilated its neighbours on the Italian peninsula , eventually expanding and conquering parts of Europe , North Africa and Asia . By the first century BC , the Roman Empire emerged as the dominant power in the Mediterranean Basin and became a leading cultural , political and religious centre , inaugurating the Pax Romana , a period of more than 200 years during which Italy 's law , technology , economy , art , and literature developed . Italy remained the homeland of the Romans and the metropole of the empire , whose legacy can also be observed in the global distribution of culture , governments , Christianity and the Latin script .
Cristina Pomacu ( born 15 September 1973 in Calafat , Dolj ) is a female long-distance runner from Romania who mainly competed in the marathon . She is a triple winner of the annual Belgrade Marathon ( 1994 , 2000 and 2001 ) , and twice won the silver medal at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships ( 1995 and 1997 ) . Pomacu competed in the women 's marathon at the 1994 European Athletics Championships ( taking 24th place ) and was chosen to represent Romania at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics ( although she failed to finish the race ) . She was ever present at the World Half Marathon Championships from 1995 to 2000 and frequently finished in the top ten , forming part of a strong Romanian women 's team .
Zola Pieterse ( née Budd ; born 26 May 1966 ) is a middle-distance and long-distance runner . She competed at the 1984 Olympic Games for Great Britain and the 1992 Olympic Games for South Africa , both times in the 3000 metres . In 1984 ( unratified ) and 1985 , she broke the world record in the women 's 5000 metres . She was also a two-time winner at the World Cross Country Championships ( 1985-1986 ) . Budd 's career was unusual in that she mainly trained and raced barefoot . She moved with her family to South Carolina in 2008 , and competes at marathons and ultramarathons . She volunteers as assistant coach at Coastal Carolina University in Conway . Her mile best of 4:17.57 in 1985 , still stands as the British record .
South Africa , officially the Republic of South Africa ( RSA ) , is the southernmost country in Africa . It is bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometres ( 1,739 mi ) of coastline of Southern Africa stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans ; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia , Botswana , and Zimbabwe ; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini ( Swaziland ) ; and it surrounds the enclaved country of Lesotho . South Africa is the largest country in Southern Africa and the 24th-largest country in the world by land area and , with over 58 million people , is also the world 's 24th-most populous nation . It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere . About 80 percent of South Africans are of Bantu ancestry , divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different African languages , nine of which have official status . The remaining population consists of Africa 's largest communities of European , Asian ( Indian ) , and multiracial ( Coloured ) ancestry . South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a wide variety of cultures , languages , and religions . Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the constitution 's recognition of 11 official languages , which is the fourth-highest number in the world . Two of these languages are of European origin : Afrikaans developed from Dutch and serves as the first language of most coloured and white South Africans ; English reflects the legacy of British colonialism , and is commonly used in public and commercial life , though it is fourth-ranked as a spoken first language . The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup d'état , and regular elections have been held for almost a century . However , the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994 . During the 20th century , the black majority sought to claim more rights from the dominant white minority , with this struggle playing a large role in the country 's recent history and politics .
Getenesh Urge ( Amharic : ጌጤነሽ ኡርጌ ; born 30 August 1970 ) is a retired Ethiopian middle distance runner who competed in the 1980s through to 2000 . She competed in the women 's 1500 metres at the 1992 Summer Olympics . She won three bronze medals at three different African Championships in Athletics . In Annaba at the 1988 Championships she won a bronze in the 1500 metres , she repeated this performance five years later in Durban at the 1993 Championships . This after the 1992 Championships in Mauritius where she won a bronze in the 3000 metres . She also won a bronze medal in Cairo at the 1991 All-Africa Games , again in the 1500 metres . She finished thirteenth in 5000 metres at the 1999 World Championships . She has also been a part of six medal winning teams in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships finishing 31st in 1990 in winning a team silver , 28th in 1992 in winning a team bronze , 14th in 1994 in winning a team silver , 29th in 1996 in winning a team silver , 21st in 1998 in winning a team silver and 17th in 2000 in winning a team silver , all bar 2000 in the long course event .
Ethiopia ( /ˌiːθiˈoʊpiə/ ; Amharic : ኢትዮጵያ , ʾĪtyōṗṗyā , listen ( help·info ) , Tigrinya : ኢትዮጵያ , Oromo : Itiyoophiyaa , Somali : Itoobiya , Afar : Itiyoophiyaa ) , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia , is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa . It shares borders with Eritrea to the north , Djibouti to the northeast , Somalia , and the de facto state of Somaliland to the east , Kenya to the south , South Sudan to the west and Sudan to the northwest . With over 109 million inhabitants , Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world and the second-most populous nation on the African continent with a total area of 1,100,000 square kilometres ( 420,000 sq mi ) . Its capital and largest city is Addis Ababa , which lies a few miles west of the East African Rift that splits the country into the Nubian and Somali tectonic plates . Some of the oldest skeletal evidence for anatomically modern humans has been found in Ethiopia . It is widely considered as the region from which modern humans first set out for the Middle East and places beyond . According to linguists , the first Afroasiatic-speaking populations settled in the Horn region during the ensuing Neolithic era . Tracing its roots to the 2nd millennium BCE , Ethiopia 's governmental system was a monarchy for most of its history . Oral literature tells that the monarchy was founded by the Solomonic dynasty of the Queen of Sheba , under its first king , Menelik I . In the first centuries , the Kingdom of Aksum maintained a unified civilization in the region , followed by the Ethiopian Empire circa 1137 . During the late 19th-century Scramble for Africa , Ethiopia and Liberia were two nations that preserved their sovereignty from long-term colonisation by a European colonial power and many newly-independent nations on the continent subsequently adopted its flag colours . However , the country was later occupied by Italy in 1936 and became Italian Ethiopia ( part of Italian East Africa ) until it was liberated during World War II .
Martha Ernstdóttir ( born 22 December 1964 ) is an Icelandic long-distance runner . She competed in the women 's marathon at the 2000 Summer Olympics .
Iceland ( Icelandic : Ísland ; [ ˈistlant ] ( listen ) ) [ c ] is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic , with a population of 360,390 and an area of 103,000 km2 ( 40,000 sq mi ) , making it the most sparsely populated country in Europe . [ d ] The capital and largest city is Reykjavík . Reykjavik and the surrounding areas in the southwest of the country are home to over two-thirds of the population . Iceland is volcanically and geologically active . The interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields , mountains , and glaciers , and many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands . Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate , despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle . Its high latitude and marine influence keep summers chilly , with most of the archipelago having a tundra climate . According to the ancient manuscript Landnámabók , the settlement of Iceland began in 874 AD when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first permanent settler on the island . In the following centuries , Norwegians , and to a lesser extent other Scandinavians , emigrated to Iceland , bringing with them thralls ( i.e. , slaves or serfs ) of Gaelic origin . The island was governed as an independent commonwealth under the Althing , one of the world 's oldest functioning legislative assemblies . Following a period of civil strife , Iceland acceded to Norwegian rule in the 13th century . The establishment of the Kalmar Union in 1397 united the kingdoms of Norway , Denmark , and Sweden .
Muriel Linsolas ( born September 24 , 1965 at Avignon ) is a former French athlete , who specialized in the distance races .
Mayumi Ichikawa ( Japanese : 市河 麻由美 ; born May 3 , 1976 ) is a female long-distance runner from Japan . She set her personal best in the women 's marathon on March 11 , 2001 in Nagoya , clocking 2:27:22 .
Alla Nikolayevna Zhilyaeva ( Russian : Алла Николаевна Жиляева ; born 5 February 1969 ) is a female long-distance runner from Russia . She set a Russian national record for the women 's 10,000 metres at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics , with a time of 30:23.07 .
Dorota Gruca , married Giezek ( born 5 December 1970 in Tarnogród ) is a Polish marathon runner , who is a three-time national champion in the women 's 5.000 metres . She finished thirteenth at the 2005 World Championships , in a career best time of 2:27:46 hours . She also competed at the World Half Marathon Championships in 1995 , 1996 , 1998 , 2000 and 2008
Poland ( Polish : Polska [ ˈpɔlska ] ( listen ) ) , officially the Republic of Poland ( Polish : Rzeczpospolita Polska [ c ] [ ʐɛt͡ʂpɔˈspɔlita ˈpɔlska ] ( listen ) ) , is a country located in Central Europe . It is divided into 16 administrative subdivisions , covering an area of 312,696 square kilometres ( 120,733 sq mi ) , and has a largely temperate seasonal climate . With a population of nearly 38.5 million people , Poland is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union . Poland 's capital and largest metropolis is Warsaw . Other major cities include Kraków , Łódź , Wrocław , Poznań , Gdańsk , and Szczecin . Poland is bordered by the Baltic Sea , Lithuania , and Russia 's Kaliningrad Oblast to the north , Belarus and Ukraine to the east , Slovakia and the Czech Republic to the south , and Germany to the west . The history of human activity on Polish soil spans almost 500,000 years . Throughout the Iron Age the area became extensively diverse , with various cultures and tribes settling on the vast Central European Plain . However , it was the Western Polans who dominated the region and gave Poland its name . The establishment of Polish statehood can be traced to AD 966 , when Mieszko I , ruler of the realm coextensive with the territory of present-day Poland , converted to Christianity . The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025 , and in 1569 it cemented its longstanding political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin . This union formed the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth , one of the largest ( over 1,000,000 square kilometres - 400,000 square miles ) and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe , with a uniquely liberal political system which adopted Europe 's first written national constitution , the Constitution of 3 May 1791 .
Ukraine ( Ukrainian : Україна , romanized : Ukrayina , pronounced [ ʊkrɐˈjinɐ ] ( listen ) ) is a country in Eastern Europe . It is bordered by Russia to the north-east ; Belarus to the north ; Poland , Slovakia and Hungary to the west ; and Romania , Moldova , and the Black Sea to the south . Ukraine is currently in a territorial dispute with Russia over the Crimean Peninsula , which Russia annexed in 2014 . Including Crimea , Ukraine has an area of 603,628 km2 ( 233,062 sq mi ) , making it both the largest country entirely within Europe and the 46th largest country in the world . Excluding Crimea , Ukraine has a population of about 42 million , making it the 32nd most populous country in the world . Its capital and largest city is Kiev . Ukrainian is the official language and its alphabet is Cyrillic . The dominant religion in the country is Eastern Orthodoxy . The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC . During the Middle Ages , the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture , with the powerful state of Kievan Rus ' forming the basis of Ukrainian identity . Following its fragmentation in the 13th century , the territory was contested , ruled and divided by a variety of powers , including the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth , Austria-Hungary , the Ottoman Empire and Russia . A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries , but its territory was eventually split between Poland and the Russian Empire .