The history of the sport may be traced back to military and school organizations in 1897. The organization was formed on 4 June 1961. The ability of East African athletes was announced to the world in the
1960 Olympics as barefooted
Abebe Bikila took the gold medal in the
Marathon. Bikila repeated in 1964 and the floodgates were opened. Ethiopia has captured 45 Olympic medals, all of them in
long distance running through 2012, despite participating in three Olympic boycotts. The organization is also responsible for selecting representatives to other world championship events. In November 2016, former Olympic gold medalist and Ethiopian long distance running great
Haile Gebrselassie was elected president of the Ethiopian Athletics Federation. On 14 November 2018, double Olympic champion
Derartu Tulu succeeded Haile Gebrselassie as president of EAF. On 22 December 2024, following an abysmal performance at the
2024 Paris Olympics under Derartu Tulu's leadership, two-time Olympic silver medalist
Sileshi Sihine was elected president of the Ethiopian Athletics Federation, replacing Tulu. ==Kit suppliers==