Letter 21 - She Was The 1st Black African Woman!
Hello Bregdan Woman!
Today, you’re going to learn that if you can run here, you can run anywhere!
This Bregdan Woman came from Bekoji, a small village 10,500 feet above sea level in Ethiopia. There are plenty of donkeys, horses, goats, and cows on the road, but only 25 people in the population of 17,000 own a car. The landscape looks arid but is incredibly fertile – growing anything that is planted.
The average temperature is 66 degrees – my kind of place! It may take some time for your lungs to acclimate to the elevation, but you will revel in the crisp, pure air.
One thing is for sure… if you can run here, you can run anywhere.
Except that Derartu Tulu didn’t grow up running. Her love was horseback riding. She was quite convinced her feet weren’t meant to touch the ground. She rounded up the family cattle on horseback. She went to school on horseback. She visited friends on horseback.
When she was 16, some friends convinced her to give running a try. She still preferred horses, but running could provide her with opportunities that horseback riding could not.
She also happened to be quite good at it. In an area that embraced long distance running, she was unusually fast. She began to realize the doors that could open for her – just because she was fast.
And tough.
Her running philosophy was simply expressed: You need to be tough in everything you do.
That’s a philosophy every Bregdan Woman should embrace!
Derartu was only twenty when she made the Olympic squad for the 10,000 meter race in 1992. She was headed to Barcelona, Spain!
While she showed great promise, no one expected her to medal. While there was expectation that the event would see the first gold medal won by an African woman, no one thought Derartu would win, or place.
South Africa had recently ended Apartheid, so they were invited to the Barcelona Olympics. Their star runner, Elena Meyer, a white South African, was heavily favored to win.
Derartu didn’t care what everyone thought. She had come to run!
The Olympic racing world was stunned when 20 year old Derartu kept pace with Elena Meyer, even when the South African broke away from the rest of the field. I’m sure Elena was stunned, too!
Derartu followed Elena, close on her heels, until just 400 meters were left of the race.
Derartu made her move, darted past Elena, and took the lead. She won the race by 30 meters!
I wonder if she was as shocked as the rest of the world when she crossed the finish line first? Probably not – she knew what she could do, even if no one else did. She was tough!
Derartu became the first black African woman to win Olympic gold!
I think something more important happened that day, though.
Derartu waited for Elena at the finish line. The two women, the first black African woman to earn an Olympic medal, and Elena a white South African, set off hand in hand for a victory lap that symbolized hope for a new Africa.
I love this image!
Derartu knew her victory was a big one for women’s athletics. After she won gold in Barcelona, many women runners started thinking it was possible to win big competitions.
Believing something is possible is the most important step in actually making it happen.
I’m going to repeat that. Believing something is possible is the most important step in actually making it happen.
Derartu inspired generations of runners – having an impact through history.
It wasn’t simply her victories that inspired women, however. Remember her philosophy about being tough?
After stunning the world in 1992, a knee injury kept her from running for two years. Nothing was going to stop her, however. She returned to competition in 1995, winning gold in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships
Oh, I should probably mention she arrived at that race only an hour before the start. She was stuck at the Athens airport without sleep for 24 hours.
Yep – she had to be tough.
1996 was another tough year. Derartu lost her shoe in that year’s IAAF race and had to fight back to place fourth in the race she had won the year before. Nursing an injury, she also finished fourth at the Olympics.
In 1998 she gave birth to a daughter, but she wasn’t finished running. She was more motivated than ever to show what women and mothers could achieve.
She worked relentlessly, coming back in 2000 in the best shape of her life. Showing just how tough she was, she won the 10,000m Olympic gold for the second time!
She kept running. Derartu has a total of five world and Olympic medals.
I could go on and on about her accomplishments. She ran competitively into her late thirties, adding marathons to her list of events, winning many races along the way.
When she finished running competitively, she set her sights on helping other athletes in Ethiopia.
She has been the president of the Ethiopian Athletics Federation since 2018 – inspiring and motivating athletes from every discipline in her home country.
She is focused on teaching more athletes how to be tough.
Here are your questions… What do you need to be TOUGH about? How will it change your life?
One additional tidbit (that deserves its own story soon!) is that Derartu is the aunt of the Dibaba siblings. The five Dibaba sisters are considered to be the fastest set of siblings in the world.
The sisters were inspired by their aunt!
Derartu is a true Bregdan Woman. Her actions and accomplishments have impacted and inspired girls and women across the world!
If this letter has inspired you, it would mean the world to me if you will share it with your friends and family - or on your social media. My dream is to reach MILLIONS of women. You can help!
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And, like always,
What will you do today to be a Bregdan Woman?
What will you do today to impact history??
I’m on this journey with you!
Ginny
