I know I will hear a lot of flack from his excellency Girma Asmerom about this article but I did not want to keep this great story of achievement and dedication to the future generation and so I write a very inspiring post so that our future generations can learn from it. The story begins in the 1970’s when the athlete whose popularity during the heyday of soccer in the horn of Africa was at his best. He dazzled many fans in stadiums and was selected to represent the former Ethiopian national team that consisted of many Eritrean stars at the 1968 olympics in Mexico City. The 1968 team just like the African Champions of the 1962 team consisted of many Eritreans and ambassador Girma Asmerom was one of them. After arriving in the USA he attended a strong NCAA division three school that had a great program. The school Bowdin College was located in Maine. The New England region was known for strong soccer programs during these times even with smaller schools challenging the big name school. Ambassador Girma who played a couple of seasons at Bowdin College known by their nick name the Polar Bears shattered all kinds of scoring records and his record stood strong for 35 years until 2007.

After a succesful stint at Bowdin College a private school where he excelled both in School and athletics, he went on to get his masters at American University in Washington D.C in international relations. Like other Eritreans who sacrificed careers to fight for independence, the ambassador chose to go back home to join the Eritrean struggle for independence. He fought in its ranks for 14 years. In an interview he gave while an ambassador in the USA he said “My reward is democracy in Eritrea,” he said of his sacrifice. Ambassador Girma went on to become Eritrea’s ambassador to Ethiopia, South Africa, the USA, European Union and currently serves Eritrea as the African Union ambassador for Eritrea. His sacrifice is amazing and his ability as an athlete should remind us that anyone can be an athlete of Olympic standards and also one that has broken records that continue to remain in the top three to this day at his college in Maine known as Bowdin College.

In the picture below Ambassador Girma is standing third from the left next to another Eritrean great Luciano Vassaslo and many other Eritrean stars before the  1968 Mexico Olympics. Let us be inspired by this and I urge all the future generation to be proud of the past and represent the Eritrean flag that so many died and sacrificed for. Ambassador Girma is one of many and he is a class act and has proven in reality that he has served and continues to serve Eritrea in the highest capacity.

Erisportsnews.com