Lagos, Nigeria (CNN)When Ethiopian runner Feyisa Lilesa raised his hands and crossed his wrists above his head in a defiant political gesture as he approached the finish line at the Rio Olympic marathon, it put the spotlight on his home nation.
"Crossing my wrists in Rio has already had a great impact on my life," he said. "I am now separated from my dear mother, my supportive wife and my precious children in Ethiopia who I miss dearly."
After the Olympics, Lilesa stayed on in Brazil for weeks and has now traveled to the US where he has received a special skills visa to train for upcoming races there, he said. Despite fearing for his safety, Lilesa said he had no regrets following his actions. "I would have regretted if I had returned to Ethiopia without taking the opportunity to make the situation of my people known in this way and make their voices heard," he said in the email interview from Washington DC. "My people were yearning to be heard... to let their condition be known and because of my protest... now people know who the Oromo are and what they face," he added.
Runner calls for change in Ethiopia Lilesa says he has received an outpouring of support since the Olympics. "People make the sign wherever I go," he said. A crowd funding site has raised more than $160,000. The site was set up by someone in the US who says he recognized that Lilesa would need support following his antigovernment protest. Lilesa, who has two children in Ethiopia, said he misses his family but added: "I know
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that the families of all those who are lost and those who are maimed are just as precious. Mine is no different from theirs." He hopes to one day go back to Ethiopia but, he said, not before things change drastically for those persecuted there. "We need change in Ethiopia," he said. "I look forward to a day when all people of Ethiopia can live in peace, with their full rights protected. Like all other people, the people of Ethiopia want justice, free speech, accountable government and a free press."
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/13/africa/ethiopia-runner-protest/index.html
Olympic runner Feyisa Lilesa: 'I will be killed if I go back to Ethiopia' To read more on this topic Click Here
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