 Tachlowini Gabriyesos after the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games marathon in Sapporo | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Tachlowini Melake Gabriyesos |
| Nickname | Louie |
| National team |  ART  Refugee Olympic Team (ROT) |
| Born | January 1, 1998 Eritrea |
| Education | Hadassah Neurim |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event(s) | Marathon, long-distance |
| Club | Hapoel Emek Hefer |
| Coached by | Alemayu Faloro |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best(s) | Marathon: 2:09.00 (Sevilla 2023) Half marathon: 1:02:21 (2020) 10,000m: 28:47.67 (Tel Aviv 2020) |
Tachlowini Melake Gabriyesos[1][2] (born 1 January 1998) is an Eritrean-born long-distance runner.[3] He lives and trains in Tel Aviv, where he runs with the Emek Hefer club and is supported by an International Olympic Committee (IOC) Refugee Athlete Scholarship. He has competed over 3000 metres, 5000 metres, 10,000 metres, the half marathon and the marathon. He finished in 16th place at the 2020 Olympics.
Tachlowini Melake Gabriyesos is estimated to have been born in 1998. He is the second of seven children.[4] He and a friend fled Eritrea in 2010, at just 12 years of age, to escape escalating violence. Tachlowini opened up about the reason for this decision in an interview: "a lot of people at the time were leaving Eritrea, and we were just thinking together that we wanted to go to another place, where we could live like human beings and have opportunity". Soldiers began barging into houses in search of people to fight in the army, which frightened Tachlowini and his friend. If they had stayed, they would have been forcibly recruited into the military for an indefinite amount of time and subjected to war atrocities. Tachlowini did not have the heart to bear this. He desired a regular life that let him wake up in the morning and go about his day.[5][6][7][8]
So, the young boys lightly packed their belongings and took off on the two to three days long walk through the savanna to Ethiopia, where other large groups of Eritreans were migrating. Although he and his friend did not know what would happen to them when they embarked on the risky journey, they were determined to make it out of Eritrea. Tachlowini saw that he had no future in his home country. He never got the chance to properly say goodbye to either of his parents, who were away at a wedding, in his rush to exit.[9]
While on their way, they stopped every few hours to rest before they continued. They had no map to rely on and easily could have gotten lost, especially, in the darkness of the night. However, Tachlowini's friend guided them using what that his father had told him. Right before they fell asleep, the friend took off his shoes and aimed them in the direction that they needed to proceed once they woke up the next morning.[5][4][6][7][8]
The strategy worked well and helped them reach their first destination. There, Tachlowini contacted an aunt of his, who also abandoned Eritrea, over the phone. She invited him to join her at her location in Israel and gave him instructions to turn back toward Sudan. Much earlier on, she had entered Israel by paying Bedouin traffickers to bring her on a ferry to the Israeli border. Similarly, Tachlowini went from Sudan to Egypt with the very same human traffickers, carried on a small truck alongside 20 to 30 people. Then, they crossed the Sinai Desert into Israel.[4][6][9][10] Tachlowini witnessed the traffickers abuse, exploit, and commit unspeakable acts of violence against other refugees. He constantly feared that they would return him to Eritrea or kill him as well.[11][12]
Upon his arrival, Israel officials classified Tachlowini as an asylum seeker and sent him to a detention facility meant for holding unaccompanied minors. There, at the Holot centre, they processed and medically checked him. He was entered into the Hadassah Neurim Youth Village, a boarding school north of Tel Aviv that is widely considered to be a safe haven for at-risk youth as well as children from low socio-economic backgrounds. Immigrants from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union comprise over half of the student population. The school offered a running programme that he gladly participated in and led him to his current coach Alemayu Faloro.[4][6]
Ever since Tachlowini was little, he admired Eritrean long-distance runner Zersenay Tadese. He calls Zersenay 'the best athlete in Eritrea' and a big influence on why he chose to become a runner. Tachlowini kept a picture of Zersenay in his notebook and felt inspired to be like him. The men finally met at training camp in Ethiopia in 2020, which fulfilled Tachlowini's dream.[4][6]
Tachlowini completed school at Hadassah Neurim—where many of the kids affectionately nicknamed him Louie—and is now allowed to legally reside in Israel at the Youth Village with his adoptive family.[4] He and his aunt speak every month or so, however, he still has little communication with his parents back in Eritrea. They talk every four or five months because of internet challenges that make it difficult for them to connect more frequently from their village.[6][13] Tachlowini wants to earn his Israeli citizenship and represent the country by the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France.
Tachlowini was selected as one of six athletes to compete for the Athlete Refugee Team (ART) at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, where he ran in the 5000m.[14] Prior to the event, while he was travelling, he was delayed for 27 hours at the airport in Turkey due to problems with his visa. He finished 34th in the trial heats. Understandably, the hassle at the airport had an effect on his performance that day.
In October 2020, he was selected to represent the Refugee Team in the World Athletics Half-Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland. However, visa issues got in the way again and he could not travel. Two months after that disappointment in Poland, he ran a half-marathon personal best of 1:02:21 at Gan HaShlosha National Park in Israel.[5]
On 14 March 2021, Tachlowini ran the Olympic marathon qualifying time of less than 2:11:30. He did so in 2:10:55 at Hula Lake Park in Israel and became the first refugee athlete to clock a qualifying standard for the Olympics. It was only the second time he ever competed over that distance.[15][16] He was subsequently selected as one of 29 athletes across 12 disciplines to represent the Refugee Olympic Team (ROT) at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.[17][18] Additionally, he was awarded the honour of being the flag bearer for the team during the opening ceremony of the games.[19]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Representing the Athlete Refugee Team (World Athletics and European Athletics competitions) and Refugee Olympic Team (at the 2020 Olympic Games) | |||||
| 2019 | World Championships | Doha, Qatar | 34th (h) | 5000 m | 14:28.11 |
| 2021 | European 10,000m Cup | Birmingham, Great Britain | 48th | 10.000 m | 30:29.91 |
| Olympic Games | Sapporo, Japan | 16th | Marathon | 2:14:02 | |
| Cross Country Championships | Dublin, Ireland | 49th | Senior Race | 32:19 | |
| 2022 | European Championships | Munich, Germany | - | Marathon | DNF |
| Cross Country Championships | Turin, Italy | 51st | Senior Race | 31:38 | |
