Will his medal be taken away?

AhhhThisStinks

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26 year old Feyisa Lilesa, Olympic marathon runner from Ethiopia

As Lilesa crossed the finish line to win a silver medal, he crossed his arms above his head in an "X." This is a gesture made by the Oromo people who have suffered brutal police crackdowns.

Explaining his actions, Lilesa said: "The Ethiopian government are killing the Oromo people and taking their land and resources so the Oromo people are protesting and I support the protest as I am Oromo. The Ethiopian government is killing my people so I stand with all protests anywhere as Oromo is my tribe. My relatives are in prison and if they talk about democratic rights they are killed. I raised my hands to support with the Oromo protest."

When discussing his own safety he stated, "If not kill me, they will put me in prison. I have not decided yet, but maybe I will move to another country."

Rule 50 of the Olympic charter bans political displays

Asked if he was worried about being sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Lilesa said: "I cannot do anything about that. This was my feeling. I have a big problem in my country, it is very dangerous to make protest in my country."

The IOC say they are gathering information about the case.

EDITS:

Just a few quick add-ons, and I also wanted to add this picture from the press conference Lilesa did after the race:
http://imgur.com/NGokzp8

Lilesa said that in the last nine months more than a thousand people had been killed by the government for protesting for rights and democracy. He said the Ethiopian government had removed people from their land and then jailed or killed them for protesting. "If you talk about this one it's very dangerous so another athlete (says to him) how can you speak this one? It is a very bad government. Now America, England, France support this government when they give this support it buys machine guns then they kill the people."
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@lemmonjello made a good point about Lilesa having a bigger problem to worry about than his medal (i.e., his safety, the safety of his family). I just wanted to say that I never meant to make light of the larger stakes here, and I'm sorry if it came off that way.
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@CObullUshitGH put a link down below, but it was important enough to put up here. The link is: https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/06/16/such-brutal-crackdown/killings-and-arrests-response-ethiopias-oromo-protests
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I haven't heard anything about the IOC's decision, but Ethiopia's communications minister, Getachew Reda, gave a statement saying that Lilesa is an "Ethiopian hero" and "shouldn't at all be worried" about returning to Ethiopia. He further stated, “I can assure you nothing is going to happen to his family; nothing is going to happen to him."

Kabe59

Because brutal police crackdowns based on race are only a political issue

9 years ago |

idontneednostinkingpuffin

+1 people need to see this.

BewareTheJabberwockie

When people are being held hostage by their own country, its cruel to tell them to be silent at a world event.

prawnklng

There's me thinking he is a supporter of DX.

kasaku

The Olympics doesn't ban political displays, it bans political dissent. That due stopping for the anthem is clear evidence of that.

deathmaul51

From doing a little research, Getachew Reda could become the next leader and he is from Oromo. At least that is what I found.\

7 years ago |

NicomoCosca

Rupp looks like a kid wearing his dads clothes. Wtf Nike size him up right

Thranduill

Yes, the rules are there for a good reason.

LissAHHH

I wish the world was made of something better. More dogs.

GrImmgur

Can any outside sources help him?

fakebecauseidontwantpeopletoknow

Well he'll probably get asylum somewhere if he wants it. Or did you mean people that aren't immigrations officers?

Sadist90

better take it back, hapless fuck , dont mix politics and sports

Zemat28

Pssh he was probably just jamming out to Excision

StevenFarmer

[deleted]

9 years ago (deleted Aug 22, 2016 6:16 AM) |

zflazeda

page not ound

CObullUshitGH

Sorry .

lemmonjello

sounds like he has bigger problems to worry about than his medal

356

Randomshitforfun

You're not wrong

that's a good point. sry. that should have probably been the header.

jmeyers1983

Nah, a country like the US will take him in under political amnesty.

https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/06/16/such-brutal-crackdown/killings-and-arrests-response-ethiopias-oromo-protests

I put this link in the actual post and credited you. Let me know if you would prefer I didn't put it there

It's cool just as long as the info gets out.

wormhat4vermhat

This isn't a polital, it's a human race issue.stop killing innocent people, assholes. More USA olympians should've spoken out on politics

icyvaynes

Im going to make this simply. Scale 1-10. 1 being meh 10 being so bad Satan wouldn't even touch it. 1 is the U.S. 10 is his country.

I agree. He's taking a big risk. I'm not questioning that. I'm saying, nothing should happen to him in regards to the IOC

That's easy to say for us on the couch. The USOC has suspended athletes for this.

I do not disagree, i'm just saying, he's not standing up against "who's the next president". He's standing up for what should be obvious.

That means nothing to the IOC. They booted the two American athletes that did the black power fist back in the day.

EadEchiC

So Lochte can't hold his piss, makes a crazy lie and puts on a whole charade and it's all over NBC. This dude is the real HERO.

Very good point! I don't have a witty remark to put here though :/ lol

He embellished, but 4 athletes were extorted at gunpoint. NBC was not placing them in a favorable light at all.

CitizenDickbag

There's no evidence they were extorted at gunpoint.

raidleadergutts

It was proven that those cunts lied. They got drunk and belligerent and kicked down a toilet door. Their wallets were with them when back.

The video shows the gun and money exchanged while the guns out.

It shows them being held by armed security officers after committing a crime. Any claim to see money exchanged by threat is interpolation.

They can be seen giving their wallets to them.

thehungryguy

hold his piss? did he pee in the pool or something?

He might have done that too...but I think @nukreasian is referring to Ryan peeing at the gas station before being "robbed"

It's a given that swimmers pee in the pool. At least that's what phelps says. I was referring to the whole urinating on the wall. Thanks op

BeerAndWhiskey

He hasn't decided whether or not to move to another country? Seems like a no brainer.

washehu

He mentioned in an interview he has a wife and two children. Even the idea of separation aside, his whole family is in imminent danger

MissAizea

Hard to leave home. Leave your culture, your language, the familiar landscape... I'd be conflicted as well

If he goes back he becomes a martyr. In Ethiopia Olympians are heroes, it will be hard for the government to touch him.

AngieSims

If he had a country like England or American backing him. Nobody will even remember this guy or his problem once the Olympics are over.

You're severly underestimating the ruling regime. They even refused to air the finish on the national channel

Not really. The government still can obviously but EVERY Ethiopian will know regardless of whether or not it's on ETV.

Because unscrupulous governments have never killed heroes who opposed them?

There's a good chance he will die if he goes back, or be long-time imprisoned. That's what martyr means.

You ended your statement saying it would be hard for the government to touch him. That implies that he wouldn't be killed.

Yeah, what I meant was there will be a heavy price for the government to touch him not that they can't.

ShipoopiShipoopiShipoopiTheGirlWhosHardToGet

On the one hand, I agree with this display, and this one: On the other hand, that Egyptian was an asshole.

justasomeone

due to Israeli compulsory military there is a every possibility that he had harmed or even killed, he does not have the other mans respect

They were ejected from those games for this display.

Or he didn't want to be ostracized or killed for acknowledging israel. So much ignorance surrounding this event.

oratoriotangram

Lochte?

alivicwil

which Egyptian?

Bluemax2000

An Egyptian guy refused to shake an Israeli Olympians hand after a match

boomslander

The Egyptian bowed as he was required to.

He nodded at the Israeli when they forced him to.

colieco

The Australian in the picture was shunned by his country (and further wasn't invited or honored at the Sydney Olympics) due (1/?)

I think he was even our fastest qualifier in 72, but wasn't picked for the team. Peter Norman.

to wearing a pin supporting the Olympic Project for Human Rights in this photo. He quit racing and actually died a (2/3)

decade ago without Australia ever issuing an apology to him. (3/3

He died *before* Australia issued an apology... We're ok at admiting our mistakes after everyone is dead...

thanatos777

I really just want to preserve this and send it to your grandkids some day, when you'll be claiming you never supported Israel's apartheid.

bbueller

shit, no one's saying Israel doesn't do f'd up stuff (like most countries. See: USA drones, Russia Crimea, North Korea everything)

because they feel like it. Anyone who points out this hypocrisy is demonized and called anti-semitic. 3

"no one's saying Israel doesn't do f'd up stuff". That simply isn't true. Tons of ignorant people and israeli shills try to paint israel 1

jeez, look at the post. THE POST! Not all conversations involvng israelis have to become referenda on their national policy

as an utterly blameless country that's just surrounded by people who want to kill them not because they're invading their lands but just 2

You apparently have never listened to Americans talk about Israel.

You apparently didn't read the original comment. Nothing about Israel, just the (true) statement that the Egyptian was an asshole

It's just that the olympics act specifically as a forum to foster international cooperation, to show that at our core we're humans competing

and that we can find some common ground. good sportsmanship can provide the basis upon which diplomacy depends

CheeseBelongsInTheKitten

Is the picture supposed to be related at all, also is the comment related to this post?

DasFunke

Black panther members lost their medals for political statement of raised fists.

Okay so the picture was related to the post and the comment is about the Egypt-Israel no handshake thing? Another political-y thing?

I'm not sure about the "asshole" comment, but the picture is of another political protest at the Olympics.

Yeah I know about that one, I'm just super confused about the connection of this comment to the post, anyway, thanks a lot people.

26 year old Feyisa Lilesa, Olympic marathon runner from Ethiopia

Rule 50 of the Olympic charter bans political displays

Comments (111)