Ethiopia: How Netizens Reacted to Suspension of Athletes · Global Voices
Did online reactions from Ethiopian netizens contributed to the move by the Ethiopian Athletics Federation to lift the suspension of Ethiopian athletes banned for not reporting for an early pre-Olympic camp? On Friday January 20, 2012 Ethiopian State Television (ETV) broke the news that the Ethiopian Athletics Federation has banned 35 athletes for an indefinite period – including double Olympic champions <PERSON> and <PERSON> from the London Games in a dispute over training. The suspension was lifted Tuesday January 24, 2012.
As the London Olympic championship is looming and resentment is fermenting amongst the public over deteriorating results of Ethiopian athletes in the past few years, the news of their suspension captured the interest of netizens.
The decision ignited hullabaloo and mixed reactions online. On January 20 journalist <PERSON> responded in Amharic to the decision of the athletics governing body on his Facebook page:
<PERSON> at the World Championship Athletics 2009 in Berlin. Photo courtesy of <PERSON>.
የፍፃሜው መጀመሪያ እንዳይሆን፡፡ ቀነኒሳ፣ ጥሩነሽ፣ ስለሺ እና ሌሎች 13 ዕውቅ አትሌቶች በኢትዮጵያ አትሌቲክስ ፌዴሬሽን የቅጣት መዝገብ ላይ ሰፈሩ፡፡ ቅጣቱ ከማንኛውም ዓለምአቀፍ እና የሀገር ውስጥ ውድድር አትሌቶቹን ማገድ ነው፡፡ ቀጪውም ሆነ ተቀጪዎቹ ጋር ሥር የሰደደ ችግር እንዳለ በደንብ አውቃለሁ፡፡ የቀጪው አካሄድ ካልደፈረሰ አይጠራም ይመስላል፡፡ ጣጣው ግን ደፍርሶ ያልጠራ ዕለት ነው፡፡ እኔ በግሌ ማንን “ሃይ” እንደምል ጨንቆኛል፡፡
I am afraid this could be the beginning of the end. 960
Kenenisa Bekele ,Tirunesh Dibaba ,Seleshi Sehen and other 13 prominent athletes are banned from taking part in any local and international competitions. I know that both the Ethiopian Athletics Federation and the banned athletes have deep rooted problems. It appears the Federation approached the crisis with shake it to get right state of mind but the hitch will be even worse when the Federation fails to get it right. Personally, I find myself in a deadlock whom to address. 409