May 26, 2013 | New York Times
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — In a somber ceremony at the American Embassy
in Ethiopia on Sunday, Lelisa Desisa, the men’s winner of this year’s
Boston Marathon, said he intended to donate his medal to the people of
Boston.
“Sport holds the power to unify people,” Desisa said. “Sport should never be used as a battleground.”
Desisa, 24, won the marathon in 2 hours 10 minutes 22 seconds, well before two bombs were detonated near the finish line shortly before 3 p.m. on April 15.
Speaking softly through an interpreter, he said that after his finish, “joy turned to sorrow.”
Desisa, who was not injured in the attack, which killed three people and injured more than 260, said he was donating his medal as a tribute to the victims.
Gebre Gebremariam, the men’s third-place finisher, and Meseret Hailu, the second-place finisher in the women’s competition, were also at the ceremony, as was Secretary of State John Kerry, who was concluding a trip to Ethiopia.
Desisa said he planned to participate in the event next year.
“We commit ourselves to sport,” he said, “and we promise that next year in 2014 we will return to Boston to show the world that our commitment to sport, our commitment to our freedom is stronger than any act of violence.”
- New York Time
Lelisa Desisa with United States Secretary of State John Kerry at the American Embassy in Ethiopia
“Sport holds the power to unify people,” Desisa said. “Sport should never be used as a battleground.”
Desisa, 24, won the marathon in 2 hours 10 minutes 22 seconds, well before two bombs were detonated near the finish line shortly before 3 p.m. on April 15.
Speaking softly through an interpreter, he said that after his finish, “joy turned to sorrow.”
Desisa, who was not injured in the attack, which killed three people and injured more than 260, said he was donating his medal as a tribute to the victims.
Gebre Gebremariam, the men’s third-place finisher, and Meseret Hailu, the second-place finisher in the women’s competition, were also at the ceremony, as was Secretary of State John Kerry, who was concluding a trip to Ethiopia.
Desisa said he planned to participate in the event next year.
“We commit ourselves to sport,” he said, “and we promise that next year in 2014 we will return to Boston to show the world that our commitment to sport, our commitment to our freedom is stronger than any act of violence.”
Runners
who were unable to finish the Boston Marathon on April 15 because of
the bombings cross the finish line on Boylston Street after the city
allowed them to finish the last mile of the race in Boston, Saturday,
May 25, 2013. WINSLOW TOWNSON / AP PHOTO
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