Models and Medals

So these pictures are a bit late, but Jay and I did a little impromptu photo shoot with Kurt Reichert (aka the most amazing father in law) while we were up at the family cottage in July. I found this site (www.adoptionbug.com) for adoption t-shirts recently and purchased two for us to wear at our upcoming garage sale.  They read “Our heart is in…” and there is a little heart where Ethiopia is located on the paint splashed Africa image. Very cute and actually, I've been wearing it everywhere, work, the gym, around the house…I just really like the shirt ok?! Plus, these shirts have been great conversation starters for not only our adoption story and process, but also the orphan crisis around the world. Anyways, thought I would share. Speaking of the garage sale, we are still accepting donations (furniture, cloths, housewares, ect) so please feel free to email or comment if you have any.

In light of the recent Olympics, I thought this posts Ethiopian Education should highlight some athletic accomplishments of famous Ethiopian athletes.  As you know, and as cliché as it sounds, Ethiopians, and Africans in general, are known for their speed! So, it should come as no surprise to anyone that many medals from Olympics past are for running. The first African to win a gold medal was Abebe Bikila in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. He ran the marathon with a record time of 2 hours 15 minuets and 16.2 seconds. That is over 26 miles…crazy fast! Even more amazing than that feet (no pun intended, and yes I meant to spell it that way) was that he ran barefooted. The next Olympics in Tokyo in 1964, he beat his old record by running the marathon in 2 hours 12 minuets and 11 seconds, making him the first athlete, and the only African (Ethiopian) in history to win the marathon twice in back to back Olympics. However, his record was beat by another amazing Ethiopian Haile Gebreselasie who ran the race in 2 hours 3 minuets and 59 seconds! 

As for 2012, the Ethiopians once again showed the world their fleet feet. The country in general won 7 medals in running events (3 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze). Our gold medalists were Meseret Defar in the Women's 5000 meters, Tirunesh Dibaba in the women's 10,000 meters, and Tiki Gelana in the Women's marathon. 

The more you know!

 *Obtained at http://www.deepethiopian.com/2011/02/interesting-facts-about-ethiopia-trivia.html and wikipedia.