'It made me so scared'- Sifan Hassan on why relocating to the US was a life-changing decision

Sifan Hassan

'It made me so scared'- Sifan Hassan on why relocating to the US was a life-changing decision

Abigael Wafula 16:30 - 15.01.2025

Sifan Hassan has disclosed that she is just a normal person and feels things deeply and what sets her apart is the ability to keep on trying even on days she is afraid.

Many view Sifan Hassan as a superhuman, but the Olympic marathon champion has admitted to feeling the nerves even as she attempts to push herself to the limit on and off the pitch.

The three-time Olympic champion was forced to seek asylum in the Netherlands from Ethiopia when she was just a young girl and she had to adapt to the new culture.

She moved to the Netherlands in 2008, just at the age of 15 before relocating to the US in 2017 to sharpen her talons. She admitted that she makes the bold moves with fear and things have worked out well for her, being a source of inspiration to the young women who do not have a clue about when to start.

In an interview with Athletics Weekly, Sifan pointed out that those were some of the hardest decisions she had to make but at the end of the day, she was able to make something beautiful out of the sacrifices.

“I made some decisions that I thought were impossible, but I tried. You know, that’s why I’m not scared of trying. Things come into my mind. I’m a normal person. I can be scared,” Sifan Hassan admitted.

“I always doubt but, because I have been through so many challenges, even when I’m scared I still try. Whenever I look back, that’s actually the key to me. It was hard but also beautiful.”

She added that relocating to the US was what changed everything in her life and career. She admitted to being afraid, maybe not even as she was while relocating to the Netherlands.

Sifan Hassan pointed out that her career was already on the right trajectory but she wanted more. She had just won a world indoor title and was a serial winner of Diamond League Meetings. She was uncertain about the bold move and kept thinking maybe things did not work out for her.

However, her resilient nature would not allow her to give up after one or two attempts as she promised herself to keep going despite the challenges she was bound to face.

“The hardest moment came when I had to make a decision to move forward, to dream bigger and move to America. It was, ‘I’m going to go to America. What if that doesn’t work?’ It made me so scared,” Sifan admitted.

“‘What if I don’t do well, what if I go there and it doesn’t work?’ But I’m also somebody who, when I’m into something, I go until the end. I’m not going to give up immediately.

“If I go to America and it doesn’t work for one year, two years, I won’t immediately give up. I’m going to try. I don’t lose hope. I imagined myself having nothing, and I was imagining myself also successful so I still made that decision.”

However, the opposite happened, she had a smooth transition and since then, she has no longer looked back. She has made historic achievements and is undeniably one of the greatest road runners.

At the Paris Olympic Games, Sifan Hassan won two bronze medals in the 5000m and 10,000m and then ended her campaign with a win in the marathon.

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