To Ethiopia, Geremew Denboba was an Olympian—a pioneering cyclist who represented his country on the international stage and became the first Ethiopian athlete to carry the national flag into the Olympic arena.
To a ten-year-old boy growing up in Addis Ababa, however, he was simply Geremew.
He was a family friend who drove a tiny Fiat Topolino, enjoyed Armenian meals at the family table, and rode a turquoise Bianchi bicycle along the roads outside Addis Ababa—with young Varoujean sometimes struggling to keep up behind him.
Their friendship survived distance, revolution, and nearly three decades of separation.
In 1997, twenty-seven years after leaving Ethiopia, Varoujean returned to Addis Ababa determined to find his old friend. His search led him through a city transformed by time until, finally, a telephone rang and a familiar voice answered.
Geremew Denboba is not simply the story of an Ethiopian Olympian.
It is a personal remembrance of friendship, loyalty, a vanished Addis Ababa, and the extraordinary people who remain part of us long after the years have carried us apart.
A story of two bicycles, one remarkable friendship, and twenty-seven years between goodbye and hello.