Skip to main content

Africans Among Us: Meet Aspiring Olympian Leul Gebresilasie of Ethiopia

http://mainichi.jp/area/saitama/news/20131203ddlk11040228000c.html

translated by Brett Larner
video courtesy of Ekiden News



With Kawagoe's Tokyo Kokusai University set to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2016 its ekiden team, founded in just 2011, hopes to qualify for the Hakone Ekiden for the first time that year.  The driving force behind the team's rapid development is Ethiopian Leul Gebresilasie, 20.  Since arriving at the school's Sakado Campus in April last year, each morning he has arisen early in the team dormitory to head out for morning training.

Morning practice kicks off each day at 5:30 a.m.  Gebresilasie does light warmups together with the other 45 members of the ekiden team before leaving to run 10-15 km at a varying pace.  In his specialty distane, the 5000 m he had a best of 14:06 before coming to Japan, but not long after arriving he showed that he possesses extraordinary talent when he improved this to 13:31.52.  His coach Shuji Oshida, 51, has high expectations, saying, "His true growth is only just getting started.  He has beautiful form and excellent balance."

At the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifier in October Tokyo Kokusai University placed 17th, outside the bracket of thirteen qualifying places for Hakone, but in individual performance Gebresilasie placed 3rd just behind two Kenyans from other universities.  Coach Oshida commented, "He is adapting well to the training environment and is strongly motivated to do his best for the sake of his teammates."

At 171 cm tall, Gebresilasie weighs 56 kg.  His home is in an agricultural area 300 m from the Ethiopian capital city of Addis Ababa.  His father has passed away, leaving his mother Golphe Haile, 60, to take care of both the family farm and raising Gebresilasie, his four brothers and two sisters by herself.  At the age of 16 he began training as a member of the Ethiopian national team, doing the serious training necessary to become a world-class long-distance runner for the first time.  Two years later came his chance to come to Japan. "My mother told me the chance to go to Japan was a great opportunity and that I should make the most of it," he says.  Once a week he and his "darling mother" talk on the phone. "For the sake of my family as well," he says with determination, "I want to accomplish big things here in Japan."

After practice Gebresilasie took us on a tour of his room in the team dormitory.  The room he shares with another team member is roughly 12 square meters.  His bed and desk are lined up neatly next to each other, will his only possessions being a computer and clothes that fit into two bags.  On the small table next to Gebresilasie's bed is a Bible written in Ethiopia's official language Amharic.  A gift from his late father, it is the belonging he holds most dear.  As a devout follower of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church he never fails to pray regularly many time each day.

After graduation Gebresilasie hopes to find a position with a Japanese corporate team and pursue a career as a jitsugyodan runner.  He does not hesitate to put his ultimate dream into words: "To run in the Olympics."

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Australian Male Arrested on Drug Smuggling Charges After Entering Japan for Osaka Marathon

On Apr. 9 the Kinki Region Bureau of Health, Labor and Welfare's Drug Control Division arrested Matthew Inglis Fox , 38, an Australian business owner of no known fixed address, on charges of violating the importation regulations of the Narcotics Control Act by smuggling tablets containing marijuana elements from the United States. The suspect had entered Japan in February to run in the Osaka Marathon . The suspect was arrested on suspicion of smuggling approximately 12 pills containing marijuana by sending them from a U.S. airport to Osaka's Kansai Airport using an international courier service on Feb. 19. The Osaka branch of the Customs Service discovered the tablets in arriving cargo and suspected them to be narcotics. Customs contacted the Narcotics Control Division, which then began its investigation of the case. According to the Narcotics Control Division, the suspect denies the charges.  Translator's note: Fox, who received a lifetime ban from the Ageo City Half Mara...

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

Kanakuri Memorial Meet and 10000 m National Championships Preview and Streaming

Saturday is the first big meet on Japan's outdoor middle and long distance circuit, the Kanakuri Memorial Meet in Kumamoto. This year it's also hosting the 10000 m National Championships , making for an extra-long and extra-quality field overall. Top finishers will pick up places on Japan's team for next month's Asian Championships in South Korea, a key step in earning world rankings points to get onto the home team for September's Tokyo World Championships that makes Kanakuri more valuable than ever. Streaming is scheduled to be here and will run through most of the day, with the meet-closing men's and women's 10000 m having a separate broadcast on NHK BS starting at 19:30 local time. Start lists for most events are here . 10000 m start lists are here . Live results are here . A-heat event previews: Women's 800 m  - 11:00 High schooler Rin Kubo  is the only Japanese woman to have broken 2 minutes, with a 1:59.93 last July. Is she going to get any fast...