Paralympic Medallist Who Stayed in a Homeless Shelter

Tamiru Kefeyalew is a visually impaired runner from Ethiopia. At the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro he won silver in the 1,500 metres, Ethiopia's only medal at those Games. As he finished, he crossed his arms above his head in protest against the government of then Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, repeating a gesture made a few weeks earlier by the Olympic marathon silver medallist Feyisa Lilesa.

He did not go home. The Associated Press reported in December 2018 that Tamiru, then 25, had been living in Brazil as a refugee for about two years. He first stayed in a camp, then in a church, and then in a shelter for homeless people. After six months in Rio he moved to São Paulo in 2017. Feyisa returned to Ethiopia a hero after two years in exile; Tamiru had not, and was unlikely to.

Under Brazilian law he cannot work legally. He relies on a São Paulo lawyer who is handling his citizenship application free of charge, a process that could take four years. He speaks some Portuguese and English, but talking with local people is often hard. He sleeps on a mattress on the floor of a shared dormitory-style room and keeps his few belongings, including his silver medal, in a small wardrobe. He now trains with Brazilian athletes, shares a room with some of them and wears a Brazilian Paralympic team shirt, and the team's fitness coach, Fabio Breda, is helping him.

He told the AP that he believes he has to stay in Brazil to have any chance of competing at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. He turned down an offer from Haile Gebrselassie to pay for a flight home. His account that the Ethiopian team shunned him in Rio was disputed by a team leader, who said the athletes stayed for economic reasons. Of his future, Tamiru said simply that he wants to be Brazilian.