Meet Girmawit Gebrzihair, a 16-year-old Ethiopian runner competing at the World Under-20 Championships in Tampere, Finland.
She recently won the bronze medal after coming third-place in the 5,000m race at the ongoing competition.
However, Girmawit who listed her birth date, November 21, 2001, is being ridiculed online by social media users including a Spanish athlete, Oscar Husillos who says she looks too old to be competing in an under-20 competition.
Here u go the bit of the day GIRMAWIT GEBRZIHAIR competing in women U20 claiming to be 16 !!!!
when i was 16 my friends didnt look like this , how have time changed ??? pic.twitter.com/4SD5DwYOvr— Raul Ansari (@kaluo777) July 12, 2018
Meet 16 years old Ethiopian athlete
Girmawit Gebrzihair
She was born on November 10, 2001.
Incredible isn't it? pic.twitter.com/ZS2EpGlkGZ— EddieKay (@EdwardGyasi) July 12, 2018
This is Girmawit Gebrzihair of Ethiopia, the bronze medalist in the women’s 5k at the @iaaforg World Junior Championships. She is “16 years old” …….. thoughts? pic.twitter.com/KFcEQ4q1LY
— Gray Horn (@Sprint4Gold) July 12, 2018
A third added: “Is there no other way of controlling these things apart from looking at a passport? It is hard to believe.”
Also taking aim at the runner was Spanish sprinter Oscar Husillos, 24.
He tweeted a picture of Gebrzihair with the caption, in Spanish, saying: “Her children and grandchildren are in the stands to see her run in the World U20 Championships.”
Husillos has since deleted the tweet and posted a string of messages saying it was taken “out of context” and his words had been “misinterpreted”.
