Yihunlish Delelecha (also known as Yihunelish Bekele Deleleneh; born October 22, 1981) is an Ethiopian-American distance runner who was a member of the 1998 World Athletics Cross Country Championship silver medal-winning team for Ethiopia.

[5] She was 27th in the 1998 IAAF Cross Country Championships in Marrakesh, Morocco, as her team from Ethiopia (which included Kutre Dulecha, Genet Gebregiorgis and Alemitu Bekele Degfa) took silver.

Athletes prepped to race in the weekend festivities (one of whom was the Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl), and Delelecha focused on taking the top prize.

As a light rain fell on the cool Sunday morning, she came through in top form, leading Serkalem Abrha, Tezeta Dengersa [no] and Alemtsehay Misganaw (who had registered for the half marathon, but missed a turn and finished the full marathon—in second place—only to be disqualified).

She won, beating out 19-year-old Bekelech Bedada and Amanda Marino, a member of the 2009 NCAA Cross Country championship team from Villanova.

[15][16] She was third at the 2012 Houston Marathon, as Benita Willis edged her out near the finish and Alemitu Abera [fr] ran away with the lead, setting a course record.