Africa has an image of being a continent only Christianized in the past three centuries by European and American missionaries. Most people are not aware that Christianity in Africa (North Africa excluded which was conquered by the Roman Empire) dates back to Antiquity. Ethiopia has a long culture history which began as early as 1000 BC and is often mentioned by Greek and Roman authors. This country plays an important role in Heliodorus’ (3. century, AD) Novel “The Ethiopian Night”. Judaism spread throughout Ethiopia, before Christianity was born. Having been mentioned several times in the New Testament and the Old Testament (Queen Sheba), Ethiopia became Christian already in the 1st century AD. “Christianity in this country is divided into several groups. The largest and oldest is the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (in Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተክርስትያን Yäityop’ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan), an Oriental Orthodox church in Ethiopia that was part of the Coptic Orthodox Church until 1959, when it was granted its own Patriarch by Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa Cyril VI.” (Quote from Wikipedia) Now this woman runner is demonstrating her and the ancient faith of her country to the world.
London, England, Aug 10, 2012 / 04:25 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Ethiopian athlete Meseret Defar provided one of the most emotional moments of the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games when she crossed the finish line in the 5000 meter race to win the gold.
She then pulled a picture of the Virgin Mary out from under her jersey, showed it to the cameras and held it up to her face in deep prayer.
An Orthodox Christian, Defar entrusted her race to God with the sign of the cross and reached the finish line in 15:04:24, beating her fellow Ethiopian rival Tirunesh Dibaba, who was the favorite to win.
A teary-eyed Defar proudly showed the picture of the Virgin Mary with the Baby Jesus that she carried with her for the entire race.
Throughout the event, Defar kept pace with three other Ethiopian runners and three from Kenya, until speeding past them on the homestretch to win gold.
The silver medal went to Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya and the bronze to Dibaba.
Defar is also a two-time world champion in the 3000 meters. In Athens in 2004 she won the gold in the 5000 meters and in Beijing in 2008 she won the bronze.
On June 3, 2006 she broke the world record for the 5000 meters set previously by Turkish runner Elvan Abeylegesse, with a time of 14:24:53.