Seifu Mekonnen
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The National Flag of Ethiopia
Seifu Mekonnen (b. 1953) was a two-time Olympic boxer from Ethiopia. He was born in Aleltu, in the province of Showa. By the age of 12, he already showed athletic prowess as a body-builder. In 1971, inspired by Muhammed Ali, he became a boxer. An American coach, Edward Simon, recognized Mekonnen's ability and welcomed Mekonnen into his classes.
Mekonnen then fought some exhibition bouts in front of as many as 50,000 people at His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie Stadium. In August 1972, the Ethiopian Olympic Committee chose Mekonnen for the team at the 1972 Munich Olympics as a light heavyweight. 
Given a scholarship by the German Sports Ministry, Mekonnen went to Berlin two months early to train in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Stadium. While in Germany, he fought 10 exhibition fights and finished a course of studies in exercise science.
At the 1972 Summer Olympics, his first two opponents were no-shows; he won his third bout against George Ouma of Uganda, but he lost his fourth bout to Harald Skog of Norway on points. Mekonnen ended in an eight-way tie for ninth place out of 28 fighters in the Olympic finals. [1]
In 1976, Mekonnen was again selected for the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and many said he was a medal hope, but he was unable to compete because of a African boycott of the Olympics. His scheduled bout with Robert Burgess of Bermuda was listed as a walk-over (not available to compete). [2]
Mekonnen received awards and recognition from His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, president Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, president Idi Amin of Uganda, and president Julius Nyerere of Zambia.
After 1976, Mekonnen fought and won in Russia and throughout Africa, then returned to Ethiopia as a national trainer. In 1980, he moved to the the United States and trained athletes in many sports, including track & field, soccer as well as boxing. He is now a certified personal trainer and hosts a weekly Ethiopian Olympic sports program on New World Radio.
In 2006, Mekonnen co-directed Abebe Bikila Day 8K in Alexandria, Virginia.
