The women’s world record in the marathon (2.11.53 hours), which Tigist Assefa achieved in Berlin a week ago with the invaluable help of a male rabbit. This is just the tip of the iceberg of a revolution that has implications for African women that go beyond sport..

The Ethiopian athlete ran in the German capital wearing the logo of Tirop’s Angels, an association of African male and female athletes, on his T-shirt. Organization fighting against gender violence after Kenyan runner Agnes Tirop was killed by her husband in October 2021.

A woman like Assefa running bare-legged across the hills of the Rift Valley was, until recently, as scandalous as it was prohibitive. Deep patriarchy and teenage marriages prevented African women from dreaming of a sports career.. Actually with any career.

The Ethiopian’s bite at the Brandenburg Gate (two minutes under Brigid Kosgei’s previous record in Chicago) reveals this: African female runners still have significant room for improvement. Another similar bite would cause this or any other athlete to drop below 2 hours and 10 minutes; this was a record equal to the Spanish male record set in the 90s.

Talent

This explosion of talent clearly shows that African women are normalizing breaking barriers, at least in the field of sports. Maybe One of the turning points was the victory of Ethiopian Derartu Tulu in the 10,000 meters final in Barcelona-92..

At the Cobi Games, Ethiopia won two Olympic medals for men and one for women in Tulu, while Kenya won six medals for men and none for women. Almost three decades later, at the Tokyo Games in 2021, the Kenyans clinched five metals, one more than the Kenyans and two more than the Ethiopians, compared to their teammate’s medal alone.

Most African medalists and champions are paired with either their coach or manager or a training partner.. These are literally marriages of convenience. In many cases, only someone who shares the same passion for this sport can understand and tolerate his lady being exposed in public in her underwear.

Shoe

Assefa also set a symbolic record for Ethiopian women by surpassing the legendary Abebe Bikila’s 2.12.11 at the 1964 Tokyo Games. Bikila is a legend in Ethiopia with global reach. At the time, no one dared to question the quality of the Ethiopian’s running shoe record. He is in Japan’s capital and is improving on the record he achieved barefoot in Rome four years ago.

Assefa had to respond to criticism from self-proclaimed purists of the sport. for using the now famous carbon plated slippers, childishly called “magic slippers”; It’s like a new Cinderella, the 500 euro Adidas of the German company, where the power to be the queen of the marathon lies in her shoes. “Sneakers don’t run alone”The reaction of the 26-year-old athlete, who ran 800 meters on the track in less than 2 minutes and achieved victory on the 42-kilometer asphalt, was great.

“We expected to see a mark of this caliber because of how the half marathon world record was developed,” says the Spanish marathon record holder. Marta Galimania. She adds: “Even so, it’s still amazing to see a girl run 2.11, get so close to the boys and finish so strong.”

Before becoming the fastest Spanish marathoner in history, the Tarragona runner from Valls was also an excellent middle-distance runner. Don’t give up on using the best technology you have to achieve your goals. “I really enjoyed watching him fly with the new Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1, hopefully we can try it soon,” he says, while undoubtedly dreaming of a great result at Paris 2024.