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Success is never easy to predict, be it in life or
in sport. However, as you wake up this morning,
there is a strong possibility that Ethiopia’s 2007
IAAF World Athlete of the Year, Meseret Defar, will
find herself 40,000 dollars richer from having won
last night in Spain her third consecutive world
indoor 3,000m title.
While some of you might be thinking how lucky she is
to be even contemplating paydays of such magnitude,
Meseret’s achievements seen from both a sporting and
societal perspective are nothing short of
incredible.
Sixteen years ago as a nine-year-old schoolgirl
growing up in a suburb of Addis Abeba, Meseret was a
student at Fitawari School (where she went on to
complete eight years of education). She was not the
brightest student in her class but already by then
she had developed a passion for running, which only
grew stronger after she saw Derartu Tulu win her
first Olympic 10,000m title in the summer of that
year. Derartu had become the first African female
ever to win an Olympic gold medal in distance
running.
In those days even in Addis Abeba it was considered
normal for girls to stay at home and look after the
family. Meseret, just as Derartu herself had done
some years earlier, had to fight her way out of the
home to be allowed to do her running training.
Ten years after Derartu’s victory in 1992, Meseret
herself was winning her first global title, at the
world junior championships in Kingston, Jamaica.
Since then, Meseret has realised her dream of
becoming the best female distance runner in the
world through her single-minded determination to
succeed.
In the summer of 2004 she almost did not make it
onto Ethiopia’s Olympic team for Athens, only
getting the chance to compete at the last-minute
after one of her teammates was withdrawn. Meseret
took her chance and became the 5,000m Olympic
champion at the age of 22.
Mesret’s success - with a string of world records
and other world titles that have followed her 2004
Olympic victory - has brought huge financial
rewards.
But anyone who knows Meseret will know that her main
motivation is not found in money but in the act of
winning. She hates being beaten - which, more than
anything, makes me so sure (as I write this piece on
the eve of her race in Spain) that she will again
come out as winner this weekend.
Just from an economic point of view we should admire
anyone who through hard work and determination has
reached the point where their regular annual income
exceeds half a million dollars. This was true for
Derartu in her heyday 10 years ago, and has now
become the norm for runners like Meseret and
Tirunesh Dibaba, the latest in the line of
Ethiopia’s great athletes.
The more interesting reflection, however, is on what
this success may represent for women as a whole in
Ethiopia. Meseret wants to be seen as a role model
not of how to become rich but of how women - just as
much as men - have the potential to succeed in their
chosen line of work - even if they have to do more
to overcome while striving to achieve their goals.
Like any successful businessperson, Meseret Defar is
investing her money wisely, which has included
building a nice spacious home in the Old Airport
part of town. But in addition to this, Meseret has
become an ambassador both for her sport and for her
country. She has used some of her wealth to help a
range of individuals and organisations; and is
regularly seen in public promoting worthy causes and
speaking out on issues which play a key part in
Ethiopia’s development.
In two weeks’ time in Bole on Sunday, March 23, the
same spirit of solidarity and determination which
has characterised Mesret’s great athletic triumphs
will be on display as thousands of girls and women
take part in the fifth edition of the WOMEN FIRST
Five Kilometre Run. And who knows - maybe Meseret
herself will be there participating with them.
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