Ebba Tulu Chala
{{Short description|Swedish athlete (born 1996)}}
{{use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| name = Ebba Tulu Chala
| image =
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| full_name =
| nationality = Swedish
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1996|6|22|df=yes}}
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| club = Keep Up RC
| sport = Track and Field
| event = marathon
}}
Ebba Tulu Chala (born 22 June 1996){{cite web |url=https://www.friidrottsstatistik.se/atswe.php?Gender=1&ID=151555 |title=Ebba Tulu Chala |website=Friidrottsstatistik.se |language=sv |access-date=8 August 2022 }} is a Swedish athlete who competes in the marathon. He was born in Ethiopia and emigrated as a child.
Early life
Chala is an Oromo from near Bekoji, where the altitude is between 2,500 and 3,000 metres. and although he was not a runner, he walked between one and two hours each way to school. After his father was murdered by Tigre and he himself was imprisoned and tortured, his uncle smuggled him out of Ethiopia to Nairobi, from where he reached Sweden as an unaccompanied minor refugee in 2013; he does not know what happened to his mother and siblings. He found his way to refugee accommodation in Salem, near Stockholm, where he stayed for a year.{{Cite web |url=https://runnersworld.se/fran-flykting-till-elit-rw-moter/ |title=Från flykting till elit: RW möter Ebba Tulu Chala |first=Claes |last=Åkeson |date=26 November 2016 |website=Runner's World |language=sv}} Two months after his arrival, at {{ill|Sågbäcksgymnasiet|sv}}, his school in Huddinge Municipality, he tried running and discovered he was very fast.{{cite news |first=Staffan |last=Dickson |url=https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/e1OzWa/loparloftet-kan-utvisas |title=Löparlöftet kan utvisas |newspaper=Aftonbladet |date=29 October 2013 |orig-year=24 September 2015 |access-date=8 August 2022 |language=sv }}
Running career
Three weeks after his discovery, Chala was entered by his teacher in a 10,000 m race at Nacka, and came third with a time of 32.22. Since 2015, he has won one bronze and four silver medals at the Swedish Athletics Championships, his first for the marathon being silver in 2019.{{cite web |first=Lorenzo |last=Nesi |url=https://www.marathon.se/nyheter/ebba-under-vm-kvalgransen-i-sevilla |title=Ebba under VM-kvalgränsen i Sevilla |website=Marathon.se |date=21 February 2022 |access-date=8 August 2022 |language=sv }}
At the Seville Marathon in February 2020, he reached the international qualifying standard for the Summer Olympics as well as the World Athletics Championships with a personal best time of 2:11:18;{{cite news |first=Mikael |last=Grip |url=https://springlfa.se/svenskt-maratonrekord-av-mustafa-mohamed/ |title=Svenskt maratonrekord av Mustafa Mohamed! |website=Spring: Löpning för alla |language=sv |date=23 February 2020 |access-date=8 August 2022 }} however, the Swedish Olympic standard is lower, at 2 hours, 11 minutes.{{Cite web |first=Lorenzo |last=Nesi |url=https://www.marathon.se/lopningen/tavling/hanna-ebba-och-micke-sa-nara-os-gransen |title=Hanna, Ebba och Micke så nära OS-gränsen |date=23 February 2020 |website=Marathon.se |language=sv |access-date=8 August 2022 }} Sidelined by injuries after that, he returned to run the Stockholm Marathon in 2021 and in early 2022 trained in Ethiopia together with the Iranian-Swedish marathoner {{ill|Mohammad Reza (athlete)|lt=Mohammad Reza|sv|Mohammad Reza}}. He was not selected for the 2021 Olympics.{{cite tweet |first=Lorenzo |last=Nesi |user=CoachLN |number=1410945939498483714 |title=The list of 17 qualified marathon runners who by various reasons will not participate at the #Olympics2021 |date=2 July 2021 }}
Initially threatened with deportation, Chala became a naturalised Swedish citizen on 15 May 2022.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{World Athletics|14628815}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chala, Ebba Tulu}}
Category:Swedish male marathon runners
Category:Ethiopian male marathon runners
Category:Naturalized citizens of Sweden
Category:Swedish people of Ethiopian descent