Tokyo Olympics 2021: Bendere Obaya on track for a booming debut

Bendere Oboya recorded the second fastest time ever by an Australian woman under 20 in the 400m — behind only Cathy Freeman. And she’s hoping to go one better at the Tokyo Olympics.

Bendere Oboya was a three-year-old girl who loved to run when her family left Ethiopia for a better life in Australia.

Settling into their new home at Pendle Hill, in Sydney’s west, she recalled watching the Olympic Games with her father Opama.

Now, that little girl who loved to run will be racing for Australia in Tokyo.

The former Commonwealth youth champion and world championships semi-­finalist will make her Olympic debut in the 400m event in Japan in July.

“I knew I needed to run and always was going to be a runner but I just didn’t know how to (make it happen),” the 21-year-old told The Daily Telegraph.

Australian 400m runner Bendere Oboya. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Bendere Oboya at the Rotary Club in Lane Cove. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“That was when I found a coach and it went on from there. It has been a quick journey. I’ve been quite lucky but I don’t like putting my age to what I’ve achieved.

“I think at any age you can achieve quite a lot. It feels amazing to be representing Australia.

“I got away from my (former) country at three years old and moved here and it feels like just a few years after settling in I’m suddenly representing the country.”

Bendere started competing from a young age at Blacktown Little Athletics but a school athletics tour to Canada encouraged her to take the sport more seriously. She linked up with coach John Quinn when she was a 15-year-old Pendle Hill High School student and her times rapidly improved.

She ran her personal best 400m time of 51.21 seconds as a 19-year-old at the 2019 World Championships in Qatar — the second fastest time ever recorded by an Australian woman under 20 — behind only Olympic champion Cathy Freeman.

Bendere Oboya is being touted as the next Cathy Freeman. Picture. Phil Hillyard

“I haven’t been beaten since 2019 at Sydney Olympic Park so it would be good to try to hold on to that,” Ben­dere said.

“I hope this year to dip under 50 seconds for the 400m, I hope to (beat my) personal best, I’m not going to limit myself.

“I also hope to make my family proud, whatever happens and I’m just going to go out and do my best.”

Despite her parents ensuring education was always a focus, they have been supportive of their daughter’s sporting dreams.

“I think a lot of African parents really force their kids to be focused on education because of the opportunities here but my parents have been really supportive letting me be a full-time athlete,” Bendere said.

“I couldn’t ask for anything better. They were really supportive, driving me to training and waiting for hours for me in the afternoons.”

Australian 400m runner Bendere Oboya. Picture: Phil Hillyard

One of six children to teacher Opama and chicken factory worker mother Akeech, Bendere’s family fled Gambela, in the western corner of Ethiopia near the South Sudan border, in 2003.

She said she was not one for titles or classifications, but is humbled to wear the green and gold uniform that was unveiled in Sydney yesterday as she prepares to represent her country.

“Some people call me a refugee but I don’t really like to classify myself, I was born in Ethiopia and am living in Australia,” she said. “I’m really grateful for opportunities I never thought I’d have.”

She expected more Australian athletes of African heritage to qualify for the Tokyo Games and refused to be drawn into the comments made by Opals basketballer Liz Cambage who criticised a lack of diversity in some ­recent photos of Australia’s Olympic team.

Cambage threatened to boycott the Games — a threat she has now backed down from — labelling a promotional picture a “whitewash’’.

Bendere Oboya poses in her Australian uniform at Wylie's Baths. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images)

Bendere Oboya speaks during the Australian Olympic Team Opening Ceremony Uniform Unveiling. Picture: Bianca De Marchi/AFP

“I’m not choosing sides, for me there are going to be people that talk up,” Bendere said.

“I can only talk about track and field because that’s all I know. At the moment there are not many people in Australia who have qualified that look like me, but I think there may be more that are yet to qualify so it’s too early for those sorts of statements.”

Tarni Stepto, 21, was also one of nine athletes to showcase the Tokyo Olympic uniform alongside Bendere.

Tarni, a proud Kamilaroi woman, will represent Australia in softball, which has not been included in Olympic competition since the Beijing.

“It means everything to me because it is not just me I am representing, it is the whole Aboriginal community in Australia,” she said. “To be able to showcase what I can do as well as being an indigenous woman is pretty cool.”

Originally published as Tokyo Olympics 2021: Bendere Obaya on track for a booming debut