On October 7, the Ethiopian

Letesenbet Gidey

was crowned in Valencia as the fastest woman in the 5,000 meters.

He flew on the slopes of the Turia Garden to, with a time of 14:06:62, lower by four seconds the record that his compatriot

Tirunesh Dibaba

achieved 12 years ago.

He reached glory at age 22 and in 70% of his best form.

That was Gidey's last happy photo.

She returned to her country to prepare for her debut in the

Valencia Half Marathon

and was caught up in the civil war that has as its epicenter Tigrey, her region, in the north of the country.

The last clue we have of her is a photo on Instagram from December 1 in which, shoes in hand, she was waiting to return to Valencia.

At that time, the organization could no longer contact her and her disappearance was made concrete when she did not get on the plane on December 3.

“Despite the fact that the region was in conflict since the summer, she came to look for the world record in October and told us that she was able to train well despite the circumstances.

However, we lost communication in mid-November and he did not take the flight, ”says

Marc Roig

, the elite coach of the Valencia Marathon and Half Marathon.

Her agent, the Dutchman Jos Hermens, has also not been able to communicate with the athlete and the

NN Running Team

, her athletics club, only clarify that they believe she is safe.

Nobody specifies more.

Gidey, who never wanted to run and was even expelled from school for refusing to join the school team, lives on her parents' farm in Tigrey, one of the largest and most populous regions in Ethiopia bordering Eritrea and Sudan.

The local government and the

Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigrey

do not recognize the legitimacy of Prime Minister

Abiy Ahmed

, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

in Addis Ababa

in 2019, and this unleashed a harsh repression that has caused them to have already crossed the border from Sudan more than 30,000 refugees.

It is unknown if the world record holder and silver medalist in the 10,000 meters in the past World Cup is among them, safe or sheltered in the mountains.

“Most Ethiopian athletes move to the capital, because they need facilities.

However, as is also the case in Kenya, it is not necessary for long-distance runners and she made the decision to continue in her region and with her coach, which her people liked very much, "explains Roig, who recalls how Gidey surprised by winning the World Cup junior cross in 2015 and 2017. "That had not been achieved by anyone," he insists.

Shelling has been constant in Tigrey for weeks, supplies are cut off, as well as communications.

Not even the national champions escape that.

Could they be drawn from the conflict?

“In Ethiopia, victories are celebrated a lot, but athletes rarely receive much support from the state.

And in these national conflicts it is very complicated, because depending on who helps you it can be interpreted as a betrayal of one side or the other, "he warns.

The Spanish Trihas Gebre, located

Nothing is known about Letesenbet's whereabouts, but there is a Spanish woman who is also trapped in Tigrey.

It is the record holder and champion of Spain of 10,000 meters, half marathon and cross,

Trihas Gebre

.

Originally from Tigrey, but nationalized and living in the Basque Country, she left for Ethiopia in the summer and there she is still trapped by the conflict.

She has been hiding in a mountain camp for weeks with her sister and her partner to escape the bombings.

Without electricity or water and with a shortage of food.

This is how she related it in a conversation lasting just ten minutes to her friend

Iñigo Eseverri

, who had been trying to locate her for a month and a half, concerned when he saw how the conflict was intensifying.

The intention now is to achieve the repatriation of the national champion, if they manage to locate her and she agrees to move away from her family, who would remain in the danger zone.

If Gidey and Gebre manage to stay safe, it will be time to worry about the consequences in their athletic progression.

Nobody dares to predict them, not even a connoisseur of long-distance runners like Marc Roig.

«Surviving in very precarious conditions like the ones they must be suffering from will affect them, although they will also have the component of anger that these adversities generate and that will push them.

But the priority now is to locate them and, as far as possible, to put them to safety.

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