Past and Prsent Oromo
Athletic Legends
Many
Oromo athletes have been participating in the Olympic for nearly
a century. However, the Abyssinians who subjugate the Oromo people
never disclosed our heroes and legends to the world that they
are Oromos but only as Ethiopians. Our athletes are both man and
women. A few are dead , in prison, retired, in exile and most
are still living and being used by Ethiopian government. Please
read and be familiar with them. We will be adding more names as
soon as we get their biography.
Abebe
Bikila (1932-1973)
Abebe
was born in 1932 in a town called Jato about 130 kms away from
Finfine, in the district of Denba near Debre Birhan. His parents
were Adee Widnesh Menberu and Oboo Bikila Demssie. According to
the tradition of his environs, he spent most of his childhood
as a shepherd and a student. At the age of 12, he completed the
traditional, "Qes" schooling. At this age, Abebe had
already distinguished himself as an exceptional "Gena"
player. In 1952, young Abebe was hired by the Imperial Body Guard.
At the Imperial Guard, he participated in both athletics and "Gena"
game. In 1954, he married W/t Yewibdar W/Giorghis with whom he
fathered four children.
Abebe
spent a number of years with the Imperial Guard before he distinguished
himself as a fine athlete. In 1956, at the age of 24, Abebe participated
in the national armed forces championships. The hero of the time
was Wami Biratu who held the national records in 5000 and 10000M
races. During the marathon race, the crowd at the stadium was
waiting to see Wami Biratu come as a winner. In the first few
kilometers, Wami was leading. After a while, radio broadcasters
informed the crowd that a young unknown athlete by the name of
Abebe was leading. As Abebe was extending his lead, the crowd
waited anxiously to see this new sensation. Abebe easily won his
first major race and later on went to break the 5000 and 10000
Meters record held by Wami. With this impressive results, Abebe
qualified for the Rome Olympics.
Abebe’s
race in the Rome Olympics is what established him as a legend
bigger than life and a household name all over the globe. Not
only he won the race, but also set a new world record at 2:16:2.
He was also the first African to win an Olympics medal. Commenting
on why he run on bare foot, Abebe said, "I wanted the world
to know that my country has always won with determination and
heroism."
Four
years later during the Tokyo Olympics, Abebe’s fame has already
reached all corners of the globe. Six weeks before the big race
that awaited him, Abebe was taken ill with Appendicitis. He underwent
surgery amid a public outcry for a proper medical council to decide
on the procedure. The day he arrived in Tokyo, Abebe hadn’t
fully recovered from the surgery and limped his way-down the stairs.
However, the reception Abebe received from the Japanese people
helped him recover rather quickly and unexpectedly.
Along
with his colleagues, Mamo Wolde and Demssie Wolde, Abebe resumed
his regular training after few days of his arrival in Tokyo. The
marathon race, particularly, the way Abebe won it barely six weeks
after his surgery and the gymnastic display he showed right after
finishing the race victoriously is now a classic image engraved
in the minds of hundreds of millions of people of this planet.
This was also the first time ever that the marathon race was won
consecutively by an athlete. The new record of 2:12:11 that Abebe
set was also an icing on a cake for this remarkable race.
Abebe
trained hard for the Mexico City Olympics of 1968. Unfortunately,
he had to withdraw from the race after running 15 kilometers due
to bad health. His compatriot, Mamo Wolde would later finish the
race victoriously.
Abebe
had competed in more than 26 major marathon races in his illustrious
athletic career. The world championships he won in 1960 and 1962
deserve special recognition.
In
1968, The legendary Abebe Bikila was involved in a car accident
in the city of Sheno about 70 Km from Addis Ababa that left him
paralyzed the waist below. Over the next 9 months, he was treated
both in Ethiopia and abroad. Even while in wheels, Abebe’s
competitive spirit and desire to see his country’s flag hoisted
high and proud helped him compete and win several races. In 1970,
he participated in a 25 Km cross-country sledge competition in
Norway where he won the gold medal. Again, in the same tournament,
he won a similar 10 Km race where he was awarded a special plaque.
The
illustrious life of the legendary Abebe Bikila came to a tragic
end in October of 1973 when he finally succumbed to a disease
he had battled for many months. This eternal Oromo hero was buried
in the grounds of the St. Joseph church in the presence of a huge
crowd and the king of the country at the time.
Mamo
Wolde Degaga(1931-2002)
Mamo
Wolde was born in the village of DreDele in the Ad-A district
about 60 Km from Finfine from his parents Mr.Wolde Degaga and
misis Geneme Gobena.
Mamo
grew up in a traditional upbringing spending most of his childhood
in DreDele where he attended a "qes" schooling. In June
of 1951, he was hired by the Imperial Body Guard. While at the
prestigious armed forces, Mamo was able to further his education.
In 1953, he was transferred to the Second Battalion of the Imperial
Guard and was sent to Korea as part of the UN peacekeeping mission.
Mamo spent 2 years in Korea where he had a distinguished military
service. After returning from Korea, Mamo got married and pursued
his passion of athletics quite regularly.
Mamo
easily qualified to be a member of the Ethiopian Olympics team
that participated in the Melbourne Olympics in 1962. He had the
overall best performance of the national Olympics team by becoming
4-th in 1500 meter race. In 1968, Mamo competed in the 10000 meters
race along with the then favorite Kenyan athletes Kip Keno and
Naphtaly Temo. 200 meters before the end of the race, Mamo went
to the lead. He maintained the lead until almost the end whence
he was overtaken by Naphtaly Temo of Kenya. Mamo won his first
Silver Olympic medal. One day before the marathon race, the team
trainer Negussie Roba approached Mamo and informed him that the
legendary Abebe may not be able to finish the marathon race due
to bad health. Coach Negussie told Mamo that he was the nation’s
only hope for the next day’s marathon race and orders him
to prepare. The next day, October 20, 1968 72 athletes from 44
countries started the long anticipated race. Abebe Bikila, Mamo
Wolde and Demssie represented Ethiopia. Abebe later dropped out
of the race at the 15-th Km after leading for the whole duration.
Mamo later would muse.
Mamo Wolde completed the race victoriously giving his country
a third gold medal in Marathon. Mamo became an instant hero just
like Abebe. Mamo was 35 when he won the Mexico City Marathon race.
In 1972, Mamo participated in the Munich Olympics at the age of
39 where he won a bronze medal in the 10000 meter.
In
his athletic career, Mamo had participated in a total of 62 international
competitions.
Despite
his fame in his homeland, Mamo spent the past nine years in prison,
accused but not convicted of taking part in the killings of some
2,000 political opponents of former military dictator Col. Mengistu
Haile Mariam from 1974 to 1978 when Mamo was a policeman. He was
convicted last January of 2002 of taking part in the execution
of a young man in the 1970s during Ethiopia's military regime
and was sentenced to six years in prison. However, he was released
because he had already spent nine years in prison awaiting trial.
Mamo's case gained international attention in 1996 when the former
Olympic star was invited to be a guest at the Summer Olympics
in Atlanta by the International Olympic Committee.The IOC unsuccessfully
campaigned for his release before the Games, sending Kenyan Olympic
gold medalist Kipchoge Keino and U.S. athlete Bill Toomey to Ethiopia
to plead with Ethiopian officials. Mamo was one of more than 5,000
Ethiopians charged with taking part in killings under the Mengistu
regime. It is not known how many have been convicted, freed or
are still awaiting trial.
Finally
Mamo wolde who suffered from lack of hearing, bronchitis, bad
eyesight and liver pain, spent 9 years in prison and died from
many complications on May 27,2002 in Finfine, Oromia.
Negussie
Roba (1935-1992)
Negussie
Roba was the long-time national coach for Ethiopian Athletics
Federation. This sensational national coach is widely acknowledged
as the man behind the success of every Ethiopian long-distance
runner from the Mexico City Olympics all the way to the Moscow
Olympics in 1980. Negussie was a formidable runner and soccer
player by his won right too.
Coach
Negussie was born in 1935 in the Jijiga region of Eastern Ethiopia
in a place called FereAd. He later moved top Addis Ababa where
he completed his elementary and secondary education at the Teferri
Mekonnen school. He later attended the commercial school in the
capital. Negussie also attended the Charles University in Czechoslovakia
where he obtained his masters degree in sports and physical training.
Negussie
was a member of the first Ethiopian Olympics Committee that traveled
to Melbourne, Australia. He had participated in the 100 and 200
meters races. In the Rome Olympics, Negussie competed in the same
races too.
A
total of 6 medals were won at the Olympics by athletes trained
by Coach Negussie. His coaching was not limited to Ethiopia alone.
He had trained athletes from other parts of Africa helping the
continent win medals in events held in Germany, Australia and
the Americas.
Coach
Negussie was also member of the Executive Committee of African
Amateur Athletics Federation and IAAF. The government of Ethiopia
had awarded Negussie the "Black Nile" medal while the
IAAF honored him with a "veteran pin" and a diploma.
The current (1998) marathon record was made by Belayneh Dinsamo,
a trainee of Coach Negussie. This long-standing record had earned
Coach Negussie a prize of an automobile.
Coach
Negussie died in April of 1992 at the young age of 57. Ethiopia
will always remember this fine coach for the pride he brought
to his people.
Wami
Biratu
Now
almost 80 years old and a father of 12 (in 1998), Wami Biratu
was once among the best long-distance runners in Ethiopia. Wami
had at one point trained Abebe Bikila. In his career, Wami had
won 30 gold, 40 silver and 10 bronze medals and won competitions
in Egypt, Japan and Czhekoslavakia.
Shibiru
Regassa
Shibiru
Regassa, who had won, 20 gold, 10 silver, and 15 bronze medals
in his 15-year running career is best known in the 800, 5000 and
10,000 meter races.
He
had competed and won numerous races in the former Soviet Union,
Germany, Canada, France, Switzerland, Italy, England, China and
Nigeria.
Shibiru
is now 52 years old (in 1998) and lives in Addis Ababa after a
forced retirement.
Mohammed
Kedir
Mohammed
Kedir has won 60 gold, 40 silver and 30 bronze medals in 5K and
10K races in a career that span 25 years. Mohammed’s career
started in the army that trained him also to be a fine athlete.
.
Tolossa
Kotu
Tolossa
is currently the assistant coach of the Ethiopian National Athletic
team. Among his trainees are the national sensations Derartu Tulu
and Haile G/Selassie.
Tolossa
had his own successful career in long-distance running which earned
him 18 gold, 3 silver and 12 bronze medals. His rise to national
level was as a result of his near win in the 5K race in 1972 which
he narrowly lost to Miruts. Tolossa had participated in the Montreal
and Moscow Olympics.
Eshetu
Tura
Eshetu
Tura is a man whose career changed by a song. The famous song
written by Solomon Tessema, the legendary sport journalist, to
honor Abebe Bikila and Mamo Wolde (marathon li-Ililtwa) was playing
on the radio after Mamo’s victory in Mexico City. Eshetu
not only get inspiration but also a determination to be like Abebe
and Mamo.
Eshetu
joined the armed forces, the breeding-ground of athletics success
in Ethiopia. His win in the 3000 meters hurdle earned him the
national spot-light. Eshetu had won a total of 30 gold, 19 silver
and 13 bronze medals in the 3000 meters hurdle race. Eshetu’s
name will be recorded in the History books as Ethiopia’s
first athlete in the 3K hurdle.
Colonel
Aberra Ayano:
Biography
to come soon
Megerasa
Tulu :
Biography
to come soon
Derartu
Tulu (1969-)
Derartu
Tulu rose to fame and an Olympics history, when she convincingly
won the women’s 10000 meters race in the Barcelona Olympics
in 1992. The scene of this 23 year old Ethiopian young lady winning
this race and then draping herself with the national tri-color
and doing a lap has placed her in the ranks of the eternal Oromo
heroes Abebe Bikila and Mamo Wolde.
Dearatu
was born in 1969 in the village of Bokoji in the Arsi region of
central Oromia as a seventh child in a family of 10 children.
Even in elementary school, Derartu excelled in horse riding competitions.
Derartu’s first significant win came in a 400 meter race
in her school where she out-run the school’s start male athlete.
That along with a win in 800 meters race in her district convincingly
put Derartu in a path of a successful career in Athletics. In
1988, Derartu represented the region of Arsi and competed in a
national 1500 meters race where she won a bronze medal.
When
she was 17, Derartu was hired by the Ethiopian Police Force. In
1989, she competed in her first international race of 6 kilometer
cross-country in Norway but was 23rd. In a years time, though,
she competed in the same race and won the Gold Medal. Derartu
won international recognition and success in the 90’s. Her
record-setting win in the 10,000 meter race in Bulgaria and her
win in the same distance race in Cairo, Egypt are worth mentioning.
Derartu’s
win in the 10,000 meter race in the Barcelona Olympics goes down
in the History Books as the first gold-medal win ever by an African
woman. Derartu is still winning races and bringing, the gold,
silver and bronze medals to her people and country. In her short
but on-going career, she has managed to win 35 gold, 12 silver
and 15 bronze med
Fatuma
Roba
Roba started running in her elementary school in
the Arsi region that was once home also to Derartu Tulu and Haile
Gebrselassie, 10,000-meter Olympic gold-medalists in 1992 and
1996 respectively.
Fatuma
Roba was the fourth of eight children of subsistence farmers living
in the rural countryside outside Bukeji, Derartu Tulu's hometown.
Roba began winning 100-meter and 200-meter races and was chosen
to represent her school in regional competitions.
``I
knew of (1960 Olympic marathon winner) Abebe Bikila and (1968
winner) Mamo Wolde from the radio, so I thought I'd try it, too,''
she says. Unlike many rural women runners, Roba says she faced
little objection from her Muslim family when she decided to take
up the sport. Four years later, she moved to Addis Ababa and became
a runner on the prison police force, where she remains today with
the rank of major to which she was promoted after Atlanta.
She
prepared for the Boston course both last year and this by running
on the hills just outside Addis Ababa. It evidently paid off last
year, since immediately after her victory she was asked about
the big incline on the course and she made the instantaneous response:
``I've been told there is a big hill, but I didn't see it.''
Roba
feels she is well-prepared again this year, although she says
she has had occasional knee trouble including at the Tokyo marathon
last autumn, when she finished fourth. She is not concerned about
the threat of rain on Monday.
``As
long as it doesn't get cold, it'll be fine,'' she says. ``I expect
good results.''
So
does the Oromo community of Boston. The immigrant residents of
the city had held high hopes for Roba last year after witnessing
her televised feat at Atlanta, and when she won in Boston, they
were ready.
Late
on the night of the race, after the official marathon celebrations,
fans packed the Addis Red Sea Ethiopian restaurant, where an Ethiopian
flag adorned the wall.
At
a victory ceremony organized by sports and community associations,
the athletes received trophies amid speeches and victory chants.
Said
Derartu Tulu, who ran her first marathon in Boston then and placed
fifth: ``It's good when the world sees this side of our country
, instead of just the hardships.''
Hiwot
Solomon, a Boston sixth-grader at the time, said she had been
yelling ``Go, Fatuma!'' on the course and stayed up for the ceremony
to get Roba's autograph.
Roba
appreciated all the attention, and stayed in Boston for a week
after the marathon. ``They all went out of their way, getting
us awards and everything,'' she says.
The
community is ready again this year, not only for Roba, but for
1996 New York City marathon silver medalist Turbo Tumo and two
of Roba's running partners, Belay Wolashe and Senayt Teklu, who
is not running in Boston but accompanied Roba.
The
marathon course is where many will be in the morning, but for
the night, victory celebrations have already been planned.
