Robel Teklemariam: Heading to the 2006 Winter Olympics
by Tseday Alehegn

The 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, Italy were filled with unforgettable highlights. Cassius M. Clay (Muhammed Ali) emerged to win the light-heavyweight gold medal in boxing. Wilma Rudolph, the 20th of 22 children in her family, became the first American woman to win three gold medals in athletics in one Olympiad. Clement Quartey of Ghana became the first black African to win an Olympic medal after competing in the light-welterweight boxing category. But it was Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia who stole the show. Five days after Quartey’s triumph, Bikila ran the marathon barefoot and won the gold medal to become the first black African Olympic champion. Running past the plundered Axum obelisk that stood in a Roman square one kilometer from the finish line, Abebe Bikila cruised to victory in world record time, hailing Ethiopia and Africa into the spotlight. Since that time, many legendary runners have emerged from Ethiopia to succeed Bikila as Olympic champions.

It was precisely this legacy that inspired Robel Teklemariam in his teenage years to become an Olympic athlete. Born in Addis Ababa in 1974, Robel moved with his mother to New York in 1983. In the summer of 1986 he enrolled at a boarding school in Lake Placid, NY, host city to the 1980 Olympic Winter Games. Surrounded by Olympic emblems commemorating the 37 nations and 1,072 athletes that participated in the XIII Winter Games, it was easy for Robel to immerse himself into skiing at the age of 12. As a newly arrived immigrant, the tough beginning of life at a New York City school was made easier when Robel discovered sports as his hobby and soon thereafter as his prime passion.