Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Published: April 10th, 2019
New York (TADIAS) — One of the key moments that occurred during the nation-wide civil unrest in Ethiopia in the last few years, prior to current reforms, included Olympic marathoner and silver medalist Feyisa Lilesa’s symbolic protest at the 2016 Rio Olympics in Brazil. The photo of Feyisa crossing the finish line with his hands crossed over his head — already a popular act of protest among the youth in Ethiopia — reverberated across the world. He then repeated the protest sign at a follow-up press conference and refused to return home, fearful of government reprisal.
As Feyisa’s daring protest brought immediate global attention to the festering crisis in his native country, the athlete sought political asylum in the United States. Feyisa returned to Ethiopia this past October following the new Prime Minsiter Abiy Ahmed’s call for exiled Ethiopians to come home.
On Tuesday Feyisa received a well-deserved heroes honor in Ethiopia while meeting with PM Abiy and President Sahle-Work Zewde, and was also awarded $17,000 USD for garnering Ethiopia a silver medal at the Olympics.
Below are photos tweeted by PM Abiy’s office:
Renowned athlete Feyisa Lelisa, also present at the dinner, was honored in a special category,
as part of the celebratory evening, for his silver medal victory at the Rio 2016 marathon. #PMOEthiopia pic.twitter.com/OtOTyLimcp— Office of the Prime Minister – Ethiopia (@PMEthiopia) April 9, 2019
(Photo: @PMEthiopia)
ታዋቂው አትሌት ፈይሳ ሌሊሳም በዚሁ የማመስገኛ የእራት ግብዣው ላይ በሪዮ ላስምዝገበዉ የብር መዳሊያ ድል መንግስት በልዩ ሁኔታ ሽልምት አበርክቶለታል::#PMOEthiopia pic.twitter.com/vY8YQQmuIz
— Office of the Prime Minister – Ethiopia (@PMEthiopia) April 9, 2019
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Related:
2016 in Pictures: Tadias Year in Review
In Pictures: Feyisa Lilesa’s Daring Protest Reminiscent of 1968 Olympics