Crowdfunding campaign for Olympics ‘hero’ Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia passes $100,000

When Ethiopian runner Feyisa Lilesa raised his arms and closed his fists to form a cross as he reached the finish line of the Olympics marathon in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, he didn’t just broadcast his own solidarity with the Oromo protests in Ethiopia.

Lilesa turned a global spotlight on the plight of the Oromo people, winning himself many admirers for doing so. Now some of those admirers want to help, and a crowdfunding effort for Lilesa has raised more than $100,000 in just two days.

Meanwhile, it remains unclear what exactly Lilesa can do next after committing an act of protest on the global stage — one he says could get him killed back home.

Lilesa won silver in Sunday’s marathon, finishing the 26-mile race in two hours, nine minutes and 54 seconds. But his second-place finish quickly became a footnote when Lilesa crossed his arms above his head as he reached the race’s finish line.

That’s not something a person in Lilesa’s position does lightly.

“If I go back to Ethiopia maybe they will kill me,” he said after the race, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. “If I am not killed maybe they will put me in prison. [If ] they [do] not put me in prison they will block me at airport. I have got a decision. Maybe I move to another country.”

Lilesa’s gesture highlights the continuing plight of the Oromo people in Ethiopia. Human Rights Watch says more than 400 people have been killed in Oromia, Lilesa’s native region, by state security forces since last November. Thousands more have been injured and tens of thousands more have been arrested, according to Human Rights Watch.

The protest began as peaceful demonstrations regarding development plans, before the government’s harsh — and ongoing — response. Ethiopia has one of Africa’s most hard-line governments. Many in Oromia now live in fear, and gestures like the one Lilesa made have become a symbol of defiance and solidarity.

Lilesa’s silent statement while crossing the finish line in Rio instantly reverberated worldwide. Many now hail him as a hero — including Abdi Fite, Lalisaa Hikaa and Solomon Ungashe, the trio that set up a crowdfunding page for Lilesa on Monday using the site GoFundMe.

The page has raised more than $100,000 and been shared on social media 10,000 times — again, all since Monday.

Wrote one donor whose avatar was an image of Lilesa with arms raised in Rio: “Thank you for been brave and also for sacrifice you made. you will always remembered as HERO. thank you”

For all his support and admiration, however, Lilesa now stares into an uncertain future.

“He didn’t plan at all for this,” Federico Rosa, Lilesa’s agent, told The New York Times Tuesday. “He doesn’t want to go to Ethiopia, he wants to go to another country. The U.S. would be very good but right now we just don’t know where he’s going to go. He was very happy after winning but also a bit confused.”

Lilesa’s wife and two children are still in Ethiopia, adding another layer to the drama. He told reporters after the race that he hadn’t discussed his protest with a single person before Sunday’s marathon.

Now, according to his agent, Lilesa is scared to return home himself but unsure of what his next step might be.

“He didn’t plan at all to go to another country,” Rosa told the Times. “I don’t know even when he decided to do this. He didn’t say anything to me about it. I was surprised. And you don’t do something like this for money. He did this to defend his country.”

U.S. Soccer Goalkeeper Hope Solo suspended 6 months for ‘cowards’ comment

The United States Soccer Federation announced Wednesday that it has suspended Hope Solo for six months for her comments after the U.S. women’s national team’s Olympic quarterfinal loss to Sweden.

Solo called the Swedes “cowards” and “cowardly” following the match, which the U.S. lost on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw during 120 minutes of regulation and extra time.

Solo’s U.S. national team contract has also been terminated, though she reportedly will still be able to play for her club team, the NWSL’s Seattle Reign.

Solo, 35, released the following statement on Twitter:

The suspension comes almost two weeks after Solo said the following:

“I thought that we played a courageous game. I thought we had many opportunities on goal. I think we showed a lot of heart. We came back from a goal down. I’m very proud of this team. But I also think we played a bunch of cowards. The best team did not win today. I strongly believe that. I think you saw American heart. You saw us give everything we had today.

“Sweden dropped off. They didn’t want to open play. They didn’t want to pass the ball. They didn’t want to play great soccer. It was a combative game, a physical game. Exactly what they wanted and exactly what their gameplan was. They dropped into a 50. They didn’t try and press. They didn’t want to open the game. And they tried to counter with long balls. We had that style of play when [Sweden coach Pia Sundhage] was our coach. I don’t think they’re going to make it far in the tournament. I think it was very cowardly. But they won. They’re moving on, and we’re going home.”

U.S. Women’s National Team Players Association director Rich Nichols told Wahl that an appeal would be filed:

U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati said in a statement that he had private conversations with Solo about her conduct — which has also been controversial in the past — and that those played into the suspension.

“The comments by Hope Solo after the match against Sweden during the 2016 Olympics were unacceptable and do not meet the standard of conduct we require from our National Team players,” Gulati said. “Beyond the athletic arena, and beyond the results, the Olympics celebrate and represent the ideals of fair play and respect. We expect all of our representatives to honor those principles, with no exceptions.

“Taking into consideration the past incidents involving Hope, as well as the private conversations we’ve had requiring her to conduct herself in a manner befitting a U.S. National Team member, U.S. Soccer determined this is the appropriate disciplinary action.”

Some of Solo’s teammates spoke out publicly about a week after the Sweden game, saying they were disappointed with Solo’s comments. “That’s not our team,” midfielder Megan Rapinoe said. “That’s not what this team has always been. That’s not what this team will be in the future.

“It’s frustrating sometimes as an athlete, you’re thrust into the spotlight, and I think this team has always done a really amazing job of understanding that we have this incredible platform, let’s do something good with it. Let’s inspire, let’s be badass, let’s be fierce, let’s be competitive. But we’re gracious and we’re humble, and we play the game a certain way, whether we win or lose. And we’ve been on the winning side quite a bit, and when we find ourselves on the other side, we need to handle that graciously, and unfortunately that wasn’t the case.”

Solo’s U.S. national team contract has also been terminated, though she reportedly will still be able to play for her club team, the NWSL’s Seattle Reign.

Former U.S. national team player and current ESPN analyst Julie Foudy was also critical of Solo in the immediate aftermath. “I shook my head. I thought, why is that necessary?” Foudy said. “There’s a long history and tradition with our national team of respecting others when you lose, so I don’t agree with it at all… To call them cowards for playing a tactically smart game is ridiculous and classless, and it really doesn’t represent the house that we built with the U.S. team.”

It’s not the first national team suspension for Solo. The U.S.’s top goalkeeper was also suspended for 30 days last year for an “incident” during a January training camp. Solo was reportedly in a car with her husband, former NFL player Jerramy Stevens, when Stevens was pulled over at 2 a.m., arrested and charged with driving under the influence.

That incident came a year after Solo was accused of domestic violence following an altercation with her half-sister and 17-year-old nephew. Those charges were eventually dismissed, but that decision was reversed on appeal. The case is still in court.

The six-month ban might take into account the 2015 suspension and the 2014 incident, as well as comments from Solo in the past. She infamously criticized coaches after being benched for Briana Scurry in a 2007 World Cup semifinal. “It was the wrong decision, and I think anybody that knows anything about the game knows that,” she said in 2007. “There’s no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves. And the fact of the matter is it’s not 2004 anymore. … It’s 2007, and I think you have to live in the present. And you can’t live by big names. You can’t live in the past.”

Usain Bolt’s ‘first lady’ Kasi Bennett reacts to cheating controversy as Jamaican sprinter lands in London

It looks like Usain Bolt’s antics may well have landed him in the dog house. The Olympic champion proved he was fast on and off the track after he was caught on camera enjoying the company of three different women during a weekend of partying in Rio and it looks like his girlfriend Kasi Bennett was not impressed.

Bolt made headlines after WhatsApp photos emerged online showing him in bed with a 20-year-old Rio student named Jady Duarte, after the sports star’s 30th birthday on Sunday (21 August.) The mother-of-two is the alleged widow of drug kingpin Douglas Donato Pereira, also known as Diná Terror.

In an interview with Extra, Duarte insisted she was not behind the leak and her new-found fame is unwarranted. “It’s very negative,” she said: “I never wanted to be famous, I’m dying of shame.”

Bennett made her thoughts on the controversy clear when she liked an Instagram meme which has a side-by-side image of her and Duarte with the caption: ‘When you girl is Selfridges, and you cheat on her with Primark.’

The 24-year-old law graduate drove home her point by liking a tweet from a disappointed fan, which read: “@usainbolt you traded your life with a #goddess @kasi__b for a one night fling with someone who will never even come close. I can’t.”

Usain Bolt, Kasi BennettGetty Images, Instagram/ @Kasi J. Bennett

Meanwhile, the Olympic record holder flew in to London’s Heathrow airport on Monday 22 August. Concerns as to his relationship status may be furthest from Bolt’s mind, however, judging by comments made to The Telegraph on monogamy in July: ‘Every culture is different. Jamaican culture is different, when you look at women and men having more than one… It’s different. I’ve noticed that in Britain, every famous person, as soon as they get famous, they have to get married – like, it’s a rule. And I’m like, that’s not fair!’

Although no details have been revealed about his visit, it could be his upcoming re-match with Prince Harry.

On 22 August, the flame-haired royal reached out to Bolt to congratulate him on his success and suggested another head-to-head encounter on the track. You may recall that the duo previously raced in 2012 at the University of the West Indies, as part of the Diamond Jubilee Tour.

“Congratulations @usainbolt – now you’re officially the greatest you might be ready for a re-run! Happy 30th –H,” Harry said. To which Bolt tweeted back : “Let’s do it. Respect for the birthday wishes,”

U.S. ends Olympics on top of medal table

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — The U.S. Olympic team made itself right at home in Rio.

The British, they had a Games to savor as well.

The host Brazilians got the soccer gold they had craved, the Russians struggled on the heels of the exposure of a state-sponsored doping program, and the Chinese finished well below expectations.

So went the medal race at the Olympics, where the Americans — with women leading the way — dominated the gold and overall totals. With five medal wins on Sunday’s final day of the Games — gold from the men’s basketball team, boxer Claressa Shields and freestyle wrestler Kyle Snyder, and bronze from marathoner Galen Rupp and the men’s volleyball team — the United States finished with 46 gold medals and 121 medals overall. Its margin of 51 total medals over second-place China is the largest in a nonboycotted Olympics in nearly a century.

“This experience has been the dream of a lifetime for me,” said gymnast and closing ceremony flag bearer Simone Biles, who won five medals, four of them gold, in her first Olympics.

For the fourth consecutive Games, U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps left with more medals than anyone else. He won six in Rio, five of them gold to increase his Olympic-record gold total to 23 and his overall total to 28. Biles and U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky each won five — all gold for Ledecky — to lead to lead a big haul from American women.

U.S. women left Rio with 27 golds, by far the most among any team of female Olympians at the Games, and 61 medals total. U.S. track star Allyson Felix won two relay golds to bring her career total to six, a track record for women, and Shields, a middleweight, became the first American, man or woman, with two boxing golds.

“I wanted it to be known that I’m not just a great female boxer. I’m one of the greatest boxers to ever live,” Shields, 21, said.

The previous record for U.S. medals at a fully attended Olympics was 110, set at Beijing eight years ago. And the margin between first and second in the overall medals race tops all others — the boycotted Games of 1980 and 1984 excluded — since the Americans won 67 more medals than Italy did at the 1932 Los Angeles Games.

“We weren’t sure we were going to have that kind of success coming in,” said U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun, noting the track and swimming teams had plenty of first-time Olympians.

Claressa Shields becomes the first U.S. boxer, woman or man, with two gold medals after defending her 2012 title.

Even with far fewer athletes competing in Rio than it had in London four years ago — and no homefield advantage this time — Britain got more medals than ever in the modern Games. It won 67 medals, 27 of them gold.

China won 26 golds, just over half as many as it won in 2008. Russia — with its track team told to stay home because of the doping investigation and a cloud hovering over its athletes who were in Rio, some of whom were publicly called out by competitors — finished with 19 golds and 56 medals overall, both well below its normal showings.

There were plenty of positives for others, however.

Usain Bolt finished off his triple-triple — three Olympics, three golds in each in the 100 meters, 200 and 400 relay — for Jamaica, in what he has said was his last Games. Neymar’s winning penalty kick decided a shootout and clinched the men’s soccer gold medal for Brazil, a host that wasn’t a factor in the medal standings but got the gold that it probably wanted most.

“We went through difficult moments in the beginning of the competition,” Neymar said. “We were criticized. And we answered on the field, with soccer.”

Rio Dances: Closing Ceremony for the 2016 Summer Olympics was Spectacular

Rio 2016 organizers are dropping the curtain on the Summer Games, Sunday after hosting the world’s elite athletes who’ve competed for 306 medals over the past 19 days here in Rio de Janeiro.

The closing ceremony starts at 8 p.m. local time, which is one hour ahead of Eastern Time. Because of NBC’s time delay, it’s airing at 8 p.m. ET and progressively later across the U.S.

We’re updating this post with scenes from the event, so please refresh to see what’s happening in Rio. We got a late start due to technical issues, so we’re filling in some blanks from the official guide to the ceremony.

The opening ceremony began with a countdown, similar to the one we saw in the opening ceremony. After that, performers evoked the colors we’ve seen all during these games — inflections on Brazil’s blue, green, and yellow flag — to form a welcoming array of Rio landmarks.

The Games have been criticized for empty seats, but the stadium is packed on Sunday night.

Later in the show, a segment evoked the expanse of time that the opening show also got at, with cave-paintings displayed on Maracana Stadium’s floor in a a meditation on archeology.

The effect was very pretty — but the crowd loved what came in the show’s second half. One segment, cartoon characters such as Mario ran around — and then, inexplicably and yet wondrously, shot a drill bit through the Earth and out the other side. They created a tunnel that links Tokyo (hosts of the 2020 Games) and Rio, with a green pipe-like entrance protruding from Rio.

And here in Rio, the tunnel’s green entrance the magically appeared on the floor of Maracana — and out popped Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Or at least that’s what we’re told. It’s one of those “Wait, what… I love it!” moments that Olympic ceremonies pull off at their best.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears during the closing ceremony. — Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears during the closing ceremony.

Another winning segment came earlier, when Grupo Corpo, a contemporary dance troupe from the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, put on part of “Parabelo,” one of its shows, at the ceremony. But then the dancers gave way to “clay people,” and the performance drew roars of approval as the crowd bopped along to Luiz Gonzaga’s forró song “Asa Branca.”

The closing ceremonies must always include speeches, and that happened often tonight. There were also national anthems — of Brazil, of Greece, of Japan, and of Kenya (during a medal ceremony for marathon).

Dancers wave flags ushering in excitement for the 2020 Summer Olympics which will be held in Tokyo.

At the end of the show came a tribute to a personal favorite of ours: the genius landscape designer and artist Roberto Burle Marx, famous for his organic, wavy shapes (he created Copacabana’s iconic sidewalk tile pattern). Trained in Europe, Marx was a champion of Brazil’s native plants and its rainforests. In this segment, the music is “Chovendo na Roseira,” in a version by Tom Jobim.

The flame was then extinguished, in a graceful official end to these games.

And then, after a thoughtful pause — and because Rio knows how to party — the drums kicked in, and six six samba singers belted out “Cidade Maravilhosa” (Marvelous City) — a Carnival march that is Rio’s anthem. In the stadium, row upon row of people stood and danced, singing along.

Dancers pay tribute to landscape designer and artist Roberto Burle Marx, who created Copacabana's iconic sidewalk tile pattern. — Dancers pay tribute to landscape designer and artist Roberto Burle Marx, who created Copacabana’s iconic sidewalk tile pattern.

Was it then over? Not yet: A sound truck appeared, along with 12 carnival queens, and athletes who competed in these games poured out of

While these games have been criticized for not having full seats, Maracana was packed last night with people who watched Brazil’s men’s soccer team win gold. And tonight, it’s full of people who came out to enjoy the unique spectacle the Olympics brings.

Music — seen by many as the backbone of Brazil’s culture — is woven throughout this ceremony, from old classics and traditional music to new pop sounds from around the country. The audience clearly agrees with the choices the show’s music programmers have made. Brazilian music has many anthems, standards that everyone can sing, and tonight we’re hearing strains of familiar music reworked in new ways.

Singer Mariene de Castro performs in front of the Olympic flame before it was extinguished

At the start of the show, a choir of 27 children entered, looking like little twinkling stars. With singers representing Brazil’s 26 states (and the Federal District), they performed Brazil’s national anthem.

We’ll note that after a travel delay, we arrived at Maracana Stadium later than we wanted — it’s a rainy, dreary evening in Rio. But the show must go on — even in an open-air stadium. Tonight, Maracana’s halls are darkened to highlight the light show and the Olympic flame.

Confetti falls as singers and dancers perform during the closing ceremony on Sunday.

At the end of an Olympics, talk always turns to their legacy – and instead of one, these games could be said to have many: First and foremost, there’s the drama, grace, and excellence displayed by more than 11,000 athletes.

Then there are the games’ effects on Rio – its people, its infrastructure, and it standing. What will become of the buildings erected to host this global event? And will the Paralympic Games, which have faced huge budget problems here in Rio, go smoothly?

Spectators dance as fireworks light up the sky during the closing ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on Sunday.

The impact of the Olympics on the city’s future is tied to its impact on Brazil – whose economy was bustling when Rio won the right to host these games eight years ago but which was continually forced to rebalance its budget for the Olympics and Paralympics, making cuts that sometimes gave a ramshackle air to the proceedings.

And then, we come to the members of the U.S. swim team who failed to distinguish themselves repeatedly in an episode that eventually led U.S. Olympic Committee President Scott Blackmun to apologize “to our hosts in Rio and the people of Brazil for this distracting ordeal.”

Runner’s brave gesture at the Rio Olympics could cost him his life

Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia celebrates crosses the line to win silver during the men's marathon. — Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia celebrates crosses the line to win silver during the men’s marathon.

The word “brave” is thrown around a lot during the Olympics. But Ethiopian long-distance runner Feyisa Lilesa showed what true bravery looks like during the men’s marathon on Sunday. Crossing the finish line for a silver medal, it looked like Lilesa was simply raising his arms to celebrate. Yet those paying attention to the Oromo protests in Ethiopia realized it was much more than that.

Since Nov. 2015, the Ethiopian government has killed an estimated 400 people, and injured thousands more, for participating in the Oromo protests, according to Human Rights Watch.

The protests started as an effort to stop the government from expanding the limits of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital city, into the surrounding towns and villages of the Oromo people, the country’s largest ethnic group.

What came next was brutal.

“Security forces … shot into crowds, summarily killing people during mass roundups, and torturing detained protesters,” wrote Human Rights Watch, citing a report that included interviews with 125 witnesses. “Because primary and secondary school students in Oromia were among the early protesters, many of those arrested or killed were children under the age of 18.”

In the graphic video below, you can see protesters making the same gesture as Lilesa did when finishing his race.

Speaking at a press conference after the marathon, the runner revealed just how much he risked with the gesture.

“If I go back to Ethiopia maybe they will kill me,” he said, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

“If I am not killed maybe they will put me in prison. [If ] they [do] not put me in prison they will block me at airport. I have got a decision. Maybe I move to another country.”

Like Us On Facebook