Loroupe hails London and Madrid initiatives

Dubai: Tegla Loroupe, the former long distance ace and current global spokeswoman for peace, women’s rights and education, has hailed the role of successive marathons in responding to the bomb attacks at the Boston Marathon earlier this month.

“What people did at the London Marathon last weekend and what Madrid plans to do next is something that can go a long way in healing our world,” Loroupe told Gulf News on the sidelines of the Peace and Sport Forum Dubai 2013, being held at the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel.

More then 37,000 runners took part in last week’s London Marathon, with many running in support of the three who died in Boston a week earlier. Organisers of the Madrid Marathon have now decided to honour the memory of the deceased when their race is held on April 28.

“The whole problem lies in the way we have been brought up. People from the rest of the world tend to profile Arabs as terrorists and trouble-makers. This is untrue and so unfair to an entire race. I don’t agree with this as I am a person for peace. After so many centuries, how can we profile an entire race in one category?” Loroupe said.

Loroupe, who turns 40 next month, has been one of most active messengers of peace in her role as a UN Ambassador of Sport and her being a Sports Ambassador for the IAAF and for Unicef.

“There is no religion that tells people to kill. We need to use sport and each one of us needs to play our role. It’s time for us to use diplomacy. You don’t have to kill people to attain peace,” she added.

In 2003, Loroupe created an annual series of Peace Marathons sponsored by the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation — “Peace Through Sports”. This series of events got presidents, prime ministers, ambassadors and government officials to run with warriors and nomadic groups in her native Kenya as well as Uganda and Sudan. In 2010, the Kenyan Government lauded her achievements after hundreds of warriors laid down their weapons.

Loroupe has established a school, the Tegla Loroupe Peace Academy, and orphanage for children from Kapenguria, a mountain town in north-west Kenya that she holds close to her heart.

“Each one of us can make a difference in our own way. No one should put revenge on their agenda,” she said.