Born in
Ambo, Ethiopia, Kuma made his international debut at the
2007 World Youth Championships in Athletics, coming fifth in the
3000 m. He came fourth in the 5000 m at the 2009 senior national championships and won the
gold medal at the
2009 African Junior Athletics Championships. He ran a personal best for the distance at the
Memorial Van Damme in
Brussels that September, clocking a time of 13:29.40 minutes. and was also the runner-up at the
Lotto Cross Cup Brussels that year. He gained selection for the Ethiopian national team with a third-place finish at the 2010 Ethiopian Cross Country Trials. At the
2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, the 19-year-old Abera was his country's second-best performing athlete, coming in sixteenth place and sharing the team
bronze medal. He made his debut on the
Diamond League track circuit a few months later and improved his 5000 m best to 13:07.83 minutes at the
Golden Gala meet. The following year he was in the top five of the
Cross Internacional de Itálica and the
Jan Meda Cross Country, thus gaining selection for the
2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. His performance at the competition attracted much attention as he and Eritrea's
Samuel Tsegay engaged in a fight on the final stretch, reflecting the history of antipathy between the nations. Tsegay, who accused the Ethiopian of deliberately elbowing him and standing on his heels from behind, took hold of Abera's leg and threw a punch before dashing to the finish. The
IAAF disqualified both athletes for their conduct. The video of the fight was widely seen on the internet, attracting hundreds of thousands of views on
YouTube. Returning to the track, he won his first national title in the 5000 m and his finishing time of 13:40.0 min was the third fastest ever recorded at the
Addis Ababa Stadium. He ran a personal best (13:00.15 min) at the Golden Gala for a second year running, then set a
10,000 metres best of 27:22.54 min at the
Prefontaine Classic. Abera set a series of personal bests in 2012. He ran 7:39.09 minutes for the
3000 metres at the
XL Galan, timed 27:18.39 minutes for the 10,000 m, recorded 45:28 minutes for third at the
Dam tot Damloop and was runner-up at the
Great Birmingham Run with a
half marathon best of 60:19 minutes. He opened 2013 with a win at the
Egmond Half Marathon. Abera finished third at the 2014 BMW
Berlin Marathon with a time of 2.05:56. In 2015, he won the
Rotterdam Marathon in a time of 2.06:47. ==References==