Was Sifan Hassan a Nurse? Everything To Know About Her Academic Background and Career Before Athletics

Before she achieved the medals and world records, Sifan Hassan was just a refugee in the Netherlands, trying to settle down after fleeing Ethiopia, her country of birth. Her journey didn’t begin on the race tracks. It started with a dream: Becoming a nurse one day. She trained to care for others, not realizing she was about to discover a talent that would change her life forever.

So how did she go from Emergency Rooms to the Olympic race track?

What Did Sifan Hassan Study Before Becoming a Professional Athlete?

Sifan Hassan didn’t grow up chasing Olympic dreams. When she landed in the Netherlands in 2008, she was just a 15-year-old refugee, alone, homesick, and trying to find her place in a strange new world. Her first thought wasn’t medals or fame. It was survival. A future. Something stable.

She enrolled at ROC Eindhoven, a vocational school, with one goal in mind: to become a nurse. Helping people felt right. It was a path she could understand. Her days were filled with Dutch language classes, textbooks, and clinical skills training. There were no stadiums. No cheering crowds. Just a teenage girl trying to rebuild her life.

But then, something changed. After settling in Eindhoven, Hassan spent a lot of her time with her fellow Ethiopians, who were part of the local Athletics Club. Ad Peeters, President of the coaching team at Eindhoven Atletiek, reminisced about Hassan’s first foray on the race track. The story begins: One fine day, Hassan joins a friend of hers for a 1000m race. Without realising the distance, she ended up finishing where she started. Beneath the quirky beginning, the Club noticed her raw talent on the track.

Peeters revealed, “We immediately saw she was a talented athlete. Even a blind horse could see she would be a good runner.” The club not only provided her with the necessary training, but they also supported her beyond the race track, helping her navigate life in a new country as a teenage asylum seeker. “We made sure she did not do the wrong things, neither in training nor in her personal life. We kept her safe, picked her up by car to go to training, took her to competitions,” Peeters recalled.

Soon, athletics started pulling her in. Track meets replaced clinic hours. Trophies began stacking up. The quiet nursing student who once sobbed in her room had found a new calling. She didn’t forget her roots or her first career plan, but the track became home.

That nursing course gave her discipline. Structure. And maybe a deeper reason to run to heal something inside herself. But fate had other plans. Sifan Hassan was meant to race, not just care. Ok, now that we know about the truth of her nursing background, let’s also find out if she actually worked as a Nurse.

Did Sifan Hassan Ever Work as a Nurse?

Sifan Hassan was determined to build a stable life and had envisioned working in healthcare. Over time, however, her path shifted dramatically. Her running talent began to shine through while she was studying to become a nurse, and coaches saw raw potential that was hard to ignore. Athletics gradually took center stage in her life, pulling her away from studies and toward international competition.

Despite those early ambitions, there’s no evidence that she ever worked professionally as a nurse. No reliable sources—interviews, biographies, or profiles that mention she practiced nursing in hospitals or clinics. Her career trajectory moved quickly from nursing school to championship track meets and eventually to Olympic podiums.

So while nursing shaped part of her journey and provided structure and purpose, it’s clear it never became her profession. Instead, running did. Her rise from refugee and nursing student to global athletic icon makes her story all the more extraordinary. So, she never worked as a nurse, so how did she come to sports?

How Did Sifan Hassan Transition from Academics to Athletics?

Sifan Hassan’s shift from nursing student to world-class athlete unfolded gradually, born of persistence and a spark of unexpected talent. Everything changed when she found herself at Eindhoven Atletiek, a local club.

Hassan was shy at first—uncoached, unpierced, without discipline, yet natural speed was undeniable. Coaches helped her refine her technique while supporting her life outside the track, offering rides, structure, and a sense of safety.

By 2013, she’d earned Dutch citizenship and began shining in European competitions. She won the gold medal in the under-23 European Cross Country Championships and started competing internationally.

In essence, Hassan’s transition wasn’t dramatic; it was steady. From nursing school to training runs to national races; from uncertain newcomer to international phenomenon, it all happened step by step, with Eindhoven Atletiek as her consistent anchor.