Defar kneels in Brussels next to the clock displaying her World best for Two Miles (© Getty Images)
career nightmares, Ethiopia’s Olympic and world 5000m champion deservedly picked up the 2007 IAAF World Athlete of the Year after an amazing season. But Defar is also increasingly developing a strong charitable personality off the track to match her success on it.
Extract from IAAF 2007 Yearbook
Ethiopia’s Olympic and World 5000m champion Meseret Defar has been through lots of trials and tribulations to make it to the top, but she admits that the morning before the IAAF World Athletics Gala in Monaco in November was perhaps one of the most difficult times of the year for her.
“It was a situation I had no control over,” she recalls of the anxious moments she spent before the announcement. “It was a race of a different kind to what I was used to. I was initially confident of winning the award, but many people were saying things that [Blanka] Vlasic or [Carolina] Kluft might win. I was a bit worried that what I had done throughout the year may not be enough.”
But when the official announcement came that she had won the Female Athlete of the Year, Defar was relieved to finally collect the award her outstanding season thoroughly deserves.
Special dedication
However as the gathering of the athletics family posed expecting to hear her thoughts about an outstanding season, Defar instead chose the occasion to dedicate the award to women in her country who were not blessed with the opportunities afforded to her.
“I would like to dedicate this award to women in my country who wake up every morning without anything to eat and work hard each day through very difficult conditions in order to survive,” she told the gathering. “I hope this award proves an inspiration to every child, sister, mother, and dreamer.”
While many were touched her words and appreciated her achievements over the course of the year, Defar, very much like the end to her fruitful year, was further highlighting a cause she has championed for more than three years.
“I feel strong about gender issues,” she says. “I understand that my success is an inspiration to the young generation and I take every opportunity to help and guide them.”
Defar also actively supports and caters for many children and women around the city. She has adopted two young kids, who are currently living with her in her home, and pays for the medical expenses of one who is a victim of a heart disease.
Helping the children
“I can only do this much,” she says. “There are many kids in the country who suffer from heart diseases and the cost of a heart operation is very expensive and is not available in Ethiopia. I want to set an example to show that those of us who are well off can take on one or two children and save lives.”
Apart from children’s education, Defar and her husband Tewodros Hailu also support a running group called the “Abebe Bikila Project” which has big ambitions of growing into a proper running club.
“These children run without any proper equipment and sometimes without food in their stomach,” she says about young runners enrolled in the project. “Each year when I travel abroad, I try to collect old and new equipment to donate to these kids and other runners who come to me from all over the country. I try to do what I can, but it is of course difficult to satisfy everyone.”
After a successful season in 2007, the future holds brighter prospect for Defar. While the Beijing Olympics and a crack at her own indoor 3000m and outdoor 5000m marks remain the general objectives, Defar says she also wants to achieve a bigger legacy off the track.
“I hope that I can be an inspiration and help many people,” she says. “I do not like giving handouts, but I want to create opportunities for people who do not have any hope in their life.”
Elshadai Negash for the IAAF