ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia—An Ethiopian marathon runner who went into exile after protesting against oppression in his country while winning a silver medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics has been asked to return home.
Feyisa Lilesa captured international attention when he raised his arms above his head and crossed his wrists at the finish line in Rio in protest against the Ethiopian government. Now, he’s been invited back by the Ethiopian Athletics Federation and the country’s Olympic committee.
The invitation came after reformist prime minister Abiy Ahmed assumed power.
An open letter from athletics federation head Haile Gebrselassie and Olympic committee chief Ashebir Woldegiorgis says they are ready to give Feyisa “a hero’s welcome.”
Feyisa has been living in self-imposed exile in the United States since 2016 and hasn’t returned home since the Olympics. His family joined him in the US in 2017.
Feyisa belongs to the Oromo ethnic group that rebelled against the former government in 2015. They protested the brutal crackdown on opposition, lack of respect for human rights and the imprisonment of dissidents. Several hundred people were killed during the protests that subsequently led to the resignation of former Ethiopian leader Hailemariam Desalegn.
“As long as this current government is in power, I don’t have hope of going back to Ethiopia,” Feyisa said in an interview with The Associated Press in 2017. “I do know change is inevitable.”
New Ethiopian Prime Minister Ahmed, like Feyisa an ethnic Oromo, has brought sweeping reforms since he took office in April. They include releasing prisoners, spearheading a peace agreement with Eritrea and inviting foreign-based opposition groups back home.
“We want Feyisa to return home and continue to register great results,” the open letter from the athletics federation and Olympic committee said.
LEDECKY SHARES SKILLS
THE Japanese students let out squeals on Tuesday as Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky moved across the swimming pool, ducking under the lane lines.
The 21-year-old American, fresh off a five-medal performance at the Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo, answered questions about her career and training routine before jumping into the pool with more than 100 star-struck Japanese elementary and junior high-school students to give them tips.
“Her strokes were really big and really different from ours, so I could really tell the difference,” said sixth-grader Risako Tomita, who lived in Maryland, Ledecky’s home state, for four years.
“I tend to put my hand too far down in the water,” she said after watching how Ledecky swims. “So I have to lift it up a little.”
Ledecky, who has won five Olympic gold medals, seemed impressed as she watched the students swim past, mouthing to her parents and brother in the stands, “They’re so fast!”
She told reporters afterward that she plans to train hard for the next two years so that she can return to Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics. She cracked a smile when she saw the students, still in their dripping swimsuits, craning their necks behind the journalists.
“Hopefully I’ll see a lot of their faces again in two years,” she said.
The event was part of the US Embassy’s “Go for Gold” campaign, which brings American athletes and diplomats to participating Tokyo schools.
Ledecky, who met legendary Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps when she was 9, said working with kids is very important to her.
“It’s fun for me to give back to the sport I love so much,” she said.
Image credits: AP