time Olympic 10,000m champion Derartu Tulu has become the first Ethiopian athlete to be named Colonel.
The 33-year old is a member of the Prisons Police club, a club for police officers serving in various juvenile correction facilities across Ethiopia, and previously held the civilian police rank Major after winning gold in the 2001 World Championships.
Tulu’s promotion came after she finished a respectable fourth over the Marathon at the recently completed 10th IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki, Finland.
The club also announced that it has subsequently upgraded the military ranks of double world champion Tirunesh Dibaba and double world silver medallist Sileshi Sihine. Both athletes now become Majors moving up a rank from their previous ranks as Sergeant.
In a related development, last year’s Olympics host nation Greece last week gave Ethiopia’s two Olympic champions honourable citizenship of Athens.
At a ceremony held in the Olympiakos club in Addis Ababa last Wednesday, the Hellenic Embassy handed over the certificate of the honorable citizenship of Athens sent by the Mayor of Athens Ms. Dora (Theodora) Bakoyanni to the Ethiopian duo.
“Greece has a special place in my heart,” said Defar in a speech she gave at the occasion. “Although I might still go on and win more Olympic medals, Athens was my first and a victory earned after so many problems.”
