Bendere Oboya
A star in the making
The youngest of six, Bendere Oboya was always sprinting to keep up with her siblings, never realizing that one day she would parlay that into a world-class career. “We used to run everywhere,” the Ethiopian-born athlete recalls. “My brothers ran off ahead, so I was always racing to catch up.”
Still, young Bendere never gave much hint of the talent that has seen her compared to 400m legends Cathy Freeman and Jana Pittman. “Running wasn’t something I was particularly good at,” she says. “I lost at school. I didn’t make my first state championships for so long!”
So why did she persist? “I just loved it,” she explains. “I was never a great student and I was very shy. With athletics, I could close off and be myself. My confidence started to come out and I knew if I trained well, I would get there one day. I knew there was so much more in me.”
This story is from the August 2021 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly.
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This story is from the August 2021 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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