Tulu and Meyer, 30 years of a historic embrace: "It was a victory for all of Africa"

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"I don't speak English and Elana talked to me a lot.

She didn't understand her, but she didn't need it, she saw that she was happy.

She didn't care that she finished second.

It was a very big surprise, her hug was very special.

It was a victory for all of Africa”, explains the Ethiopian

Olympic champion of 10,000 meters at the 1992 Barcelona Games, the first black African woman with a gold medal around her neck.

"It was a great celebration.

I was beaten by someone better than me and I was very happy with my second place.

I celebrated it for myself and for my country, which was once again part of the Olympic movement.

It was lucky to share everything with Derartu”, adds the South African

, Olympic runner-up in the 10,000 meters at the 1992 Barcelona Games, the first medalist from her country after the very long exclusion due to apartheid.

30 years ago, the two, Tulu and Meyer, gold and silver, starred in one of the most iconic moments in sport: at the end of the race they joined in a lap of honor of the highest historical value.

Africa, united.

Nevertheless.

Despite so much.

The victory of Tulu, who was only 20 years old at the time, was a surprise for her rivals, Meyer included, but that did not stop the South African from embracing her as if they were her compatriots.

This Tuesday both met again in an act of the Olympic Museum of Barcelona that will continue this Wednesday in a meeting with university students at the National Institute of Physical Education of Catalonia (INEFC).

In all this time the two have forged a friendship: upon her arrival in Barcelona, ​​Tulu showered Meyer with gifts, who wanted to present her children

and

, 15 and 12 years old.

Tulu, pioneer

“We have been meeting over time and creating a relationship.

That lap of honor was more important than the 25 laps of the race.

It was a message of peace.

In fact, in my country, Ethiopia, Elana is very popular: many people ask me about her.

Everything that happened in Barcelona 1992 had a great impact on the young women, it was an inspiration, it changed the paradigm for the athletes”, explains Tulu, one of the sensations of those 1992 Games.

Born in Bekoji, at an altitude of 2,800 metres, she had already won gold at the 1990 Junior World Championships, but she was almost unknown when she triumphed two years later.

Her final, dizzying turnaround changed her life and changed the status of women in her country and the rest of East Africa.

Before,

or

triumphed , but the athletes could not have a career: they had to dedicate themselves to the home.

After Tulu, who also won gold at the 2000 Sydney Games, would come her cousins

and

and many others.

"I inspired a lot of girls, but in a contradictory way my daughters [

, 24, and

, 16] don't run," joked yesterday Tulu, who is now 50 years old and has been president of the Ethiopian Athletics Federation for four years.

the end of apartheid

«Many times they ask me, but I would not change that second place for anything.

I never imagined the impact that lap of honor would have.

If I had won I would be a minor, without a doubt.

Those who stop me on the street no longer remember if I won or not, they remember the emotion of the moment.

When

said that sport can change the world and he really was right », proclaims Meyer, who came to success much later than Tulu.

Under the international ban on South Africa for apartheid, he was barely able to compete until, when he was already 26 years old, his country repealed the racist laws.

A few months before Barcelona 1992,

, then president of the International Olympic Committee, announced that South Africa was readmitted - "I remember that moment with emotion" - and appeared in Montjuic "without much preparation", but "very excited".

When he joined Tulu in that lap of honour, in fact, Meyer waved a specially designed white flag because the new South Africa had not yet decided on its colours.

This Tuesday he gave that flag to the Olympic Museum in Barcelona.

"I wanted to show that my country is part of Africa, a unique continent," he concludes.

Objective: for Kipchoge to race in Africa

Unlike Tulu, Elana Meyer did not enjoy much success after Barcelona 1992. In fact, in the 10,000 meters at the 2000 Sydney Games, when the Ethiopian won, she finished eighth.

She switched to asphalt for a time, where she held the half marathon world record and then opened an academy in Stellenbosch, South Africa, called Endurocad, from where she trains young people.

With the help of Adidas, she has several programs to support talents in training her in athletics and in life in general.

At the same time that she is now 55 years old, she is part of the ownership and president of the Cape Town Marathon, the most important marathon in Africa.

«One of my goals is to create opportunities in our continent and for that I work to put our marathon on a par with the majors in the United States and Europe.

It cannot be that Eliud Kipchoge, one of the best representatives of Africa in the world, has never run in his house.

I would love for her to do it, honestly », comments who yesterday also emotionally recalled some of her meetings with Nelson Mandela, a reference for her.

«We ate on occasion and when I broke the half marathon record he called me.

He was an inspiration to me, a great man," Meyer said.

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