Government awards Olympic athletes close to 10 million birr
The Ethiopian Olympic athletics team has received a national recognition in a ceremony held at the National Palace. The athletes were awarded close to ten million birr on Thursday following their participation in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Solomon Barega, who won the gold medal in the 10,000m race, received the highest award. He was awarded 3 million birr, a new model Toyota car, and 40 grams of gold.
Another Olympic athlete, 3000m steeplechase silver medalist, Lemecha Girma was awarded 1.5 million birr, while Gudaf Tsegaye and Letesenbet Gidey, who won the 5000m bronze and the 10k silver, respectively, were awarded one million birr each.
In addition to the athletes with podium finishes, athletes who had won a diploma in the competition, were also awarded 200,000 birr each, while athletes that finished in eighth place were awarded 150,000 birr each.
The award ceremony also included, for the first time, the first Ethiopian taekwondo representative, Solomon Tufa and referee, Beamlak Tesema for officiating in the Tokyo Olympics.
During the ceremony, President Sahlework Zewde pointed out that the Ethiopian Olympic Committee (EOC) and Ethiopia Athletics Federation (EAF) need to be restructured.
It can be recalled that, after much expectation, the Ethiopian team only managed to finish the Olympic Games with one gold medal, one silver, and two bronzes.
