Farida Abaroge

Farida Abaroge (born 1994, credited as 1 January) is a middle distance and cross country runner. She was selected to compete for the IOC Refugee Team at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Early and personal life Aborage is a karate black belt and was a footballer in her native Jimma, in the southwest of Ethiopia before fleeing due to persecution. She claimed asylum in France in 2017 via Sudan, an Egyptian refugee camp, and imprisonment in Libya. After arriving at the refugee reception centre in Thal-Marmoutier, in northern Alsace, she is based in Strasbourg.

Abaroge received a Refugee Athlete Scholarship from the Olympic Refuge Foundation (ORF) in December 2023.

Abaroge competed at the 2024 World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Belgrade. In May 2024, she was selected to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the 1500 metres as part of the IOC Refugee Team. She finished fourteenth in her heat and did not advance to the semi-finals through the repechange round.

She was named for the Athlete Refugee Team in September 2025 to compete over 5000 metres at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, without advancing to the final.

Competitions