Eyeru Gebru: 'I truly believe cycling saved my life' - Refugees' Voice

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When I was six years old, I used to walk to school and see cyclists racing in my city. I’d hear their names and dreamt that one day I could be like them, but bikes were expensive and we couldn’t afford one.

When I was 16 and making a little money to help my mum, I rented a bike in our neighbourhood and that’s when I learned how to cycle. I found it really hard, but it was so cool! I’d go out with my friends and I crashed so many times - I remember hiding from my mum at times so she wouldn’t worry.

Then when I was 17 years old, there was a teacher at my school who helped me join a club in my city. The club gave me my first bike and I started to race properly. After about six months, I was selected for a team in another city, Mek’ele. Mek’ele was quite far from me, but I moved there and lived with my other team-mates in a camp. The team paid me a salary and also helped me with my studies.

In 2015, I was selected in the national team for the African Championships in South Africa. This was really big at the time because it was the first of many years where women were given the opportunity to compete.

I was 19 at the time and raced in the under-23 category. Before, I’d never raced with juniors or with my age, so I just started racing in the elite category. It was a big stage race and the first time I’d raced within a big bunch of riders.

In my country, I was used to racing with 20 girls on big roads with good weather conditions, so it was really hard but a good experience. I really enjoyed it and felt very lucky to be there, but it was also special for me because it felt like I’d worked very hard to be there. I always work hard to achieve my goals even if it takes a long time to get there.

At the race, I met Ashleigh Moolman Pasio who was my role model! When I first got into cycling, I would hear her name a lot because she raced in Europe and was from South Africa, so I would say that I wanted to be like her. Now when I see her at the same races, we talk and she’s really nice.

The whole experience at the African Championships made me love cycling even more and helped me realise just how far I wanted to go. In my country, we have world and Olympic champions, but athletes come from different regions - for example, the runners are from the south and cyclists are from the north - where I’m from. We’ve always had road cyclists from my region and have some riders in world teams, so I knew that it could be possible.

One of my proudest moments is choosing cycling over my studies. My mum has always supported my cycling, but my dad - like many other people in my country - believed that if you want to have a good life, you have to go to university. I loved school and I had the opportunity to go to university, but my mum said it was my choice.

My mum did everything for me and sacrificed a lot. Taking me to and from school wasn’t easy for her, but she always helped me. I chose cycling and I never look back and regret my decision because I chose my dream and I’m so happy.

After the African Championships in 2017, I continued to compete for my country and in 2017, I was invited to a training camp with the UCI in Europe. I had my first World Championships race in Bergen that year and then became part of the WCC Team. (The WCC is managed by the UCI at the World Cycling Centre in Switzerland and aims to develop young cyclists around the world)

I stayed with the WCC for three years. In 2020 when I finished the season, I went home for the off-season but the war started in my country. It was between my region and the rest of Ethiopia and it was horrible. We lost many people - I lost family members and friends.

I don’t have any good memories and thinking about it gets me very emotional. I was in a different city from my mum and my family, and couldn’t go and see them because everything was blocked - the internet, the telephones, it was really hard.

After eight months, I escaped my country because my federation said I could do the World Championships in Belgium. But instead of going to Belgium, I came to Nice in France. I changed my phone, applied for asylum and I received my refugee status in July. In Nice, they helped me find accommodation and there were voluntary teachers who helped us learn French.

Because of the situation in my country, I had to stop cycling for two years. I couldn’t train or compete, but in December, thanks to my old coach and the French Olympic Committee, I received an IOC Refugee Scholarship which meant I could start cycling again.

I was so happy, I couldn’t believe it. With everything that’s happened in the last two years, it was cycling that gave me the strength: I kept thinking that maybe next month or next year, it’s going to be okay and that maybe I’ll be able to return to racing.

It was such a hard time for me because I still couldn’t hear anything from my family to know if they were okay, but when I finally got this scholarship, it made me believe that dreams do come true.

I’m now part of a French team, Grand Est-Komugi-La Fabrique. It’s a new continental team and we compete in good UCI races and sometimes World Tours - everything is good, I’m happy! We are all from different nations which is really cool. One of them - Fernanda Yapura from Argentina - is actually my friend who I met in the WCC team.

I grew up in altitude, so I like climbing. I really want to focus on my strengths and be competitive with the best climbers. In the team, we have different races in a year, so if it’s a climbing race and I feel good, my teammates will help me. If it’s a sprinting race, I’ll help them by getting in a good position and giving them bottles.

I was living in Nice for just over a year but have lived near Nancy by myself since March. I prefer the training in Nice because Nancy is quite flat, so I still go to training camps in the mountains near Nice and Monaco. That’s where I met Lizzie Deignan - that was a dream for me and we even talk now!

I’ve always watched her race and admired her. She’s helped me a lot and has given me advice about mental strength because I found it really hard to start racing again after my break. She’ll often help me and she’s so nice. I last saw her at the Tour de Suisse in June and she’s a great champion.

Before the scholarship, the dream was to cycle again, but now my dream is bigger. My next biggest goal is the Olympics. When I was young I would hear lots about the Olympics because of all the runners in my country and now because of the scholarship, I may have the opportunity to go to Paris. I will do everything I can to qualify and represent the Refugee Olympic Team.

Life the last three years has been really hard. We didn’t choose the situation but it’s happened, so my message to other refugees is to stay strong. Sometimes, it’s really hard to keep going, but when you’re in that moment, you just need to push through everything and the reward will be so sweet. So no matter what happens in your life, don’t give up. Keep the hope and be strong.

I truly believe that cycling has saved my life. I can’t express it in words. Before it was my dream and my passion, but now it’s more than everything. It’s like my biggest strength. Here, I don’t have anyone, I’m far from my family and the only thing I have is my dream and the love I have for cycling. It makes me more determined to be good at it and achieve my dream.

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Refugees’ Voice profiles a different Refugee Athlete Scholarship-holder each month in the lead-up to Paris 2024. There are currently 53 scholarship-holders as part of the Refugee Athlete Support Programme which is managed by the Olympic Refuge Foundation and funded by Olympic Solidarity. All 53 athletes are hoping to qualify for the Games and compete as part of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team Paris 2024.

Follow Eyeru and her journey at @eyerutesfoam and for updates on all scholarship-holders, follow @refugeeolympicteam.