Addis Ababa, Ethiopia- The Ethiopian Olympic Committee (EOC) at a ceremony on Sunday (25) honoured the country’s Olympic medallists and five individuals for their contributions to the Olympic movement.

Those honoured:

Olympic medallists Posthumously – Abebe Bikila, Mamo Wolde
Present at ceremony – Miruts Yifter, Eshetu Tura, Addis Abebe, Fita Bayissa, Gete Wami, Million Wolde, Assefa Mezgebu, Tesfaye Tola, Meseret Defar, Ejegayehou Dibaba,
Absent from ceremony – Derartu Tulu, Fatuma Roba, Haile Gebrselassie, Gezhagne Abera, Kenenisa Bekele, Sileshi Sihine, Tirunesh Dibaba

Contributions to the Olympic movement
The five individuals are: Dr. Woldemeskel Kostre (Coach), Fikrou Kidane (Journalist/Administrator/Advisor), Yidnekachew Tessema (Administrator), Ayalew Tilahun (Medical), and Demessie Damte (Journalist)

At the ceremony held at the Sheraton Addis, the awardees were each presented golden placards in recognition of their performances and their outstanding performances. The ceremony was attended by the country’s head of state President Girma Woldegiorgis and head of government Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

In his keynote address, Woldegiorgis said of the medallists, “They have made the country proud. They are ambassadors of the country in the field of international sport and have raised the country’s national flag on the world’s stage. We are all proud of them.”

A special award was also presented to Shekih Mohammed Alamoudi, Africa’s only Fortune-500 Billionaire and Ethiopia’s most affluent man, for his contribution to the development of Ethiopian sport.

On a night that doubled as a fundraising event to raise money for Ethiopia’s Olympic participation in Beijing in August this year, Alamoudi was the largest contributor of the evening with ETB 5million (around USD 535,000). The EOC raised over ETB 13.5 million (USD 1.44 million) exceeding its target USD 11 million (1.18 million) in just under three hours of aggressive fund-raising.

Elshadai Negash for the IAAF