Rios Marathon Silbermedaillen Gewinner Feyisa Lilesa (ETH) kehrt nicht nach Hause zurück, weiß aber nicht wohin.

Der Silbermedaillengewinner im Marathon von 2016 Feyisa Lilesa (ETH) lief nach 2:09,54 durch das Ziel in Rio mit hocherhobenen gekreuzten Armen (die Unterarme formen ein Kreuz, die Fäuste geballt), als eine politische Geste.

Er wiederholte diese Geste auch bei der Siegerehrung (GRR erwähnte das auch schon bei den Ergebnissen am Sonntag).

Am Dienstag flog er nicht nach Äthiopien zurück. Sein Agent Federico Rosa sagte aus Brescia (Italien) am Telefon, daß er das so nicht geplant hatte, aber jetzt nicht zurück will, dafür in ein anderes Land, am besten in die USA, so die New York Times.

Lilesa protestiert mit der Geste gegen die politische Situation in seiner Heimat.

Er gehört der Volksgruppe der Oromo an, die ein Viertel der 100 Millionen Einwohner Äthiopiens ausmacht. Die Regierung besteht aber  aus einer anderen Volksgruppe, die in der Minderheit ist und die Oromos aus ihrer Heimat verdrängen will.

"Wenn ich nach Hause zurückkehre werden sie mich ins Gefängnis werfen oder umbringen" so der Tagesspiegel.

Läufer sind in Äthiopien Nationalhelden, angefangen von Abebe Bikila, Olympiasieger im Marathon in Rom 1960 und Tokio 1964. Haile Gebrselassie ist durch seine Olympiasiege und Weltrekorde vielfacher Millionär. 

Die Regierung versichert, daß Lelisa nichts passieren würde, wenn er zurückkehrt, im Gegenteil, sie ist stolz auf seinen Erfolg.

Politische Proteste sind nach der IOC Charta 50.2 verboten. 1968 hoben die US-Sprinter John Carlos und Tommie Smith in Mexiko 1968 ihre mit einem schwarzen Handschuh bekleidete Faust (Black-Power-Bewegung) bei der Siegerehrung und riefen damit einen Skandal hervor. Sie wurden von den Spielen ausgeschlossen und in den USA fortan gemieden.

Bei Lilesa will das IOC es wohl bei einer Rüge belassen. Viel schlimmer kann es aber seiner Familie in Äthiopien ergehen. Im Internet wurde inzwischen zu einer Spendensammlung aufgerufen, bei der schon 90.000 Dollar zusammen kamen.

2015 war Feyisa Lilesa er auch Teilnehmer des BERLIN-MARATHON.

Horst Milde

"The New York Times":

Ethiopian Runner Won’t Return Home, but Doesn’t Know Where to Go

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Feyisa Lilesa
Personal information
Nationality     Ethiopian
Born              1 February 1990 (age 26)
Long-distance running
Chicago Marathon: 2:04:52 (2012)
 
Men's athletics
Representing  Ethiopia
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place    2016 Rio de Janeiro     Marathon
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place     2011 Daegu     Marathon

Feyisa Lilesa (born 1 February 1990) is a male long-distance runner from Ethiopia, a member of the Oromo people,[1] the largest ethnic group in that country. He became the youngest man to run under 2:06 when he ran 2:05:23 in the men's marathon at the 2010 Rotterdam Marathon.[2] His personal best of 2:04:52 (set in 2012) ranks him in the top ten fastest marathoners ever.[3]
 
He won the Dublin Marathon in 2009 in his debut race and then won the Xiamen International Marathon in 2010. He was the bronze medalist at the 2011 World Championships marathon and the silver medalist in the 2016 Rio Olympics marathon.

On the final day of the 2016 Rio Olympics (August 21), as he was crossing the finish line of the Men's Marathon and winning his silver medal, he raised his arms in a gesture of solidarity with protestors against the killing of the Oromo people in his home country of Ethiopia. Citing fear for his life if he returns to Ethiopia, he said in a press conference following the race that he would, "try and move to another country."[1] One of the countries he mentioned was the U.S. and the State Department was asked about this possibility. [4]

Career

He entered international competition in 2008 and his first major competition was the 2008 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, where his 14th-place finish in the junior race helped the Ethiopians to the team silver medals.[5] He ran at the inaugural edition of the World 10K Bangalore in May and was fifth in a time of 28:35.[6]

Feyisa made his senior breakthrough the following year, stepping up a level at the 2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and scoring a senior team silver medal by finishing in 12th place.[7] That April he headed to the United States to compete in the Crescent City Classic in New Orleans. He set a 10K best of 28:20 to finish as runner-up behind Mark Kiptoo.[8] He upped the distance by running at the Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon in September. He set a time of 1:02:15 but again he was beaten into second place by a Kenyan rival, this time in the form of William Chebor.[9] He made his marathon debut he following month, competing at the Dublin Marathon. He took the lead from two-time winner Aleksey Sokolov and went unrivalled in his first race over the distance, beating Solokov by a margin of a minute and a half. His time of 2:09:12 was a strong debut run, although he missed the course record by five seconds.[10]

He improved further at the Xiamen International Marathon in January 2010, breaking Samuel Muturi Mugo's year-old course record with a time of 2:08:47 to gain his first win at a major marathon.[11] He knocked a significant margin off that time at the Rotterdam Marathon, where he finished in 2:05:23. This time made him the third fastest Ethiopian (and non-Kenyan runner) ever behind compatriots Haile Gebrselassie and Tsegay Kebede.

However, this time only brought him fourth place in Rotterdam as the competition was one of the strongest ever – podium finishers Patrick Makau, Geoffrey Mutai, Vincent Kipruto all moved into the top-10 all-time fastest marathon runners.[12] He ran at the 2010 Chicago Marathon in October and kept pace with the race leaders, Tsegaye Kebede and Sammy Wanjiru, up to the 20-mile mark. He faded behind them afterwards, however, and finished in third with a time of 2:08:10.[13] Feyisa Lilesa was among the earlier front runners of the Delhi Half Marathon the following month, but eventually finished in fifth place.[14]

He was part of the silver medal-winning Ethiopian team at the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, where he finished in seventeenth place.[15] He ran at the Rotterdam Marathon in April, but was somewhat off the pace and finished seventh, more than six minutes behind the winner.[16] He was chosen to represent Ethiopia at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and ran a season's best time of 2:10:32 hours to take the bronze medal.[17]

He began 2012 with a significant improvement in the half marathon, taking the Houston Half Marathon title with a course record time of 59:22 minutes.[18][19] He entered the RAK Half Marathon the following month but was two minutes slower and ended the race in fifth place.[20] He came third at the New York City Half Marathon in March, finishing behind fellow Ethiopian Deriba Merga.[21] At the World 10K Bangalore he again missed the podium, falling back to fourth in the latter stages.[22] He did not make the Ethiopian team for the 2012 Summer Olympics and that July he was runner-up at the Bogotá Half Marathon.[23] He reached new heights in the marathon at the 2012 Chicago Marathon – he duelled against Tsegaye Kebede in the final stages and finished as runner-up with a personal best of 2:04:52 hours.[24] He retained his half marathon title in Houston at the start of 2013 and came fourth at the RAK Half Marathon a month later.[25][26] Feyisa won the national cross country title at the Jan Meda International, earning selection for the global race.[27]

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, at which he won the Silver medal in the Marathon, he crossed his wrists as a sign of support for his Oromo people who face relocation under a government program to allocate land surrounding the capital for industrial development, that prompted fierce demonstrations in November 2015 that lasted for months. The Oromos were using the same gesture in their protests. Lilesa also said that his gesture might lead to retribution on his return, and that he might be forced to leave his homeland. [28][29]

Personal bests
Event     Time (h:m:s)    Venue                   Date
10 km     28:06             New Delhi, India     21 November 2010
Half marathon  59:22     Houston, Texas, United States     15 January 2012
Marathon      2:04:52     Chicago, Illinois     7 October 2012

All information taken from IAAF profile.

Achievements
Year     Competition     Venue     Position     Event     Notes
Representing  Ethiopia
2009     Dublin Marathon     Dublin, Ireland     1st     Marathon     2:09:12
2010     Xiamen International Marathon  Xiamen, China  1st     Marathon     2:08:47
Rotterdam Marathon     Rotterdam, Netherlands     4th     Marathon     2:05:23
2011     World Championships     Daegu, South Korea     3rd     Marathon     2:10:32
2012     Chicago Marathon     Chicago, USA     2nd     Marathon     2:04:52
2016     Olympics     Rio de Janeiro, BRA        2nd     Marathon     2:09:54