Tachlowini Gabriyesos Malka

Tachlowini Melake Gabriyesos (born 1998) is an Eritrean-born long-distance runner. He lives and trains in Tel Aviv, Israel, where he runs with the Emek Hefer club and is supported by an International Olympic Committee (IOC) Refugee Athlete Scholarship. He has competed over 3000 metres, 5000 metres, 10,000 metres, the half marathon, and the marathon. He finished in 16th place at the 2020 Olympics.

Early life and background Tachlowini Melake Gabriyesos is the second of seven children. He and a friend fled Eritrea in 2010, at just 12 years of age, to escape escalating violence. Tachlowini said: "a lot of people at the time were leaving Eritrea, and we were just thinking together that we wanted to go to another place, where we could live like human beings and have opportunity". Soldiers began barging into houses in search of people to fight in the army, leading to Tachlowini's evacuation. Alongside childhood friends, Tachlowini travelled to Ethiopia via walking, arriving alongside numerous groups of migrating Eritreans.

In Ethiopia, Tachlowini telephoned an aunt of his who had also sought refuge. She invited him to her location in Israel and gave him instructions to turn back toward Sudan. In advance of this, Tachlowini had brought the family member to Israel by paying Bedouin traffickers to bring her on a ferry to the Israeli border. Similarly, Tachlowini went from Sudan to Egypt with the same human traffickers, carried on a small truck alongside 20 to 30 people. Afterwards, they crossed the Sinai Desert into Israel. Tachlowini witnessed the traffickers abuse, exploit, and commit unspeakable acts of violence against other refugees fearing expulsion or murder.

Settling in Israel Upon his arrival, Israel officials classified Tachlowini as an asylum seeker and sent him to a detention facility intended for holding unaccompanied minors. At the Holot centre, Tachlowini was processed and medically checked. He was entered into the Hadassah Neurim Youth Village, a boarding school north of Tel Aviv and safe haven for at-risk youth alongside children from destitute backgrounds. Immigrants from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union comprise over half of the student population. The school offered a running programme that he participated in, leading him to his current coach Alemayu Faloro. thumb

Tachlowini completed school at Hadassah Neurim, where many of the kids nicknamed him Louie, and is now allowed to legally reside in Israel at the Youth Village with his adoptive family.

Career

2019: World Championships Tachlowini was selected as one of six athletes to compete for the Athlete Refugee Team (ART) at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, where he ran in the 5000m. Prior to the event, while he was traveling, he was delayed for 27 hours at the airport in Turkey due to problems with his visa. He finished 34th in the trial heats, leading to speculation delay issues impacted Tachlowini's performance.

2020 In October 2020, he was selected to represent the Refugee Team in the World Athletics Half-Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland. However, visa issues intervened again, and he could not travel. Two months afterward, he ran a half-marathon personal best of 1:02:21 at Gan HaShlosha National Park in Israel.

He was subsequently selected as one of 29 athletes across 12 disciplines to represent the Refugee Olympic Team (ROT) at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Additionally, he was awarded the honour of being the flag bearer for the team during the opening ceremony of the Games.

Competitions