Boston Marathon winner to return medal
The 2013 Boston Marathon winner, Ethiopian runner Lelisa Desisa, told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry he would return his medal to the city to honor victims of the finish-line bomb attack.
Talking to the U.S. Secretary of State at the U.S. embassy in Addis Ababa, Lelisa Desisa said "sport should never be used as a battleground."
"As a gesture of my solidarity with the victims of this senseless act of violence, I will return to Boston and gift my medal to the people of Boston in honor and in memory of those who suffered and those who died on that day, like 8-year-old Martin Richard," the winning runner said.
The Ethiopian athlete said he will return next year to run in the marathon as a gesture of his solidarity with the victims of the bombings. He said returning to Boston will show that the commitment to freedom is stronger than any act of violence.
The twin blasts near the Boston Marathon finish line April 15 killed three people and wounded more than 260. A Chechen-born suspect is in federal custody. His brother, also suspected of the blasts, was killed in a police shootout.
Thousands of runners who were stopped short because of the bombings ran the last kilometer of the course Saturday to symbolically finish the race.
