Elizabeth taking care of finances in Finland

ELIZABETH Leino, formerly Mongudhi, was a true long distance star during her heyday.

She was loved by many because of her exploits in both the half marathon and marathon and history will remember her as the first woman to have represented Namibia at the Olympics when she competed at the Tokyo Olympic Games in Japan in 1996.

Overall, Leino featured at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics, as well as two World Championships. Her biggest success is the bronze medal she won at the Commonwealth Games in the marathon in Kuala Lumpur in 1998, in an impressive time of 2:43:28.

Leino is the national 10 000 metre women’s record holder which she set in 1999 with a time of 33:42.19.

The former Namibian marathon champion is retired now although she still runs, albeit on a part-time basis and for fundraising purposes only.

She lives with husband Vessa Leino and an adopted daughter in Tampere, a city in the south of Finland, where she works for a financial company.

She explained that she wakes up at 05h00 and goes to the gym when it is not snowing, after which she takes a light breakfast before getting ready for work.

Training outdoors is quite challenging during the winter, especially from October to May when it is very cold, she says.

“Life in general was very challenging when I first came to Finland. It was very difficult to communicate with the people but thanks to a government sponsored programme all newcomers are required to learn Finnish free of charge for three years,” Leino said.

“I am not that fluent yet but I am getting there gradually. The language is very difficult and I am still learning everyday. Before you start school it is expected of you to learn the language first because the schools are only taught in Finnish. I attended a business school.”

The former A Shipena pupil is employed by a financial company and she does duty at different work stations depending on the demand.

“The company I am working for is contracted to several businesses in the city. We are not based at a specific site and we are just circulated around the companies. Management insists they want their workers to know all sorts of jobs.

“One day I am working at the shop and that shift starts late at 14h00 but when I am working at the bank I am required to report for duty at 08h00. It is good because you learn to be flexible and you just fit well into any portfolio you are assigned to,” she pointed out.

The former Namibian women’s marathon champion met her husband in France where she stayed for six years before the couple relocated to Finland 16 years ago.

They adopted her late sister’s daughter Sara, who was just eight at the time. Sara is now 18 and in her final year in high school. She is said to have adapted well to the weather and Finnish culture and she is a good football player too.

Asked what her biggest challenges were in bringing up her daughter, Leino said it was never difficult at all because she was used to looking after children from her childhood.

“Back home in Owamboland, I grew up in my father’s house which was full of children. Being the eldest I was responsible for taking care of the younger ones. So, I can say I honed my skills of being a mother already at a very early age.

“The cooking, cleaning and life lessons duties were left to me because my father was not always at home and I acted as the replacement mother to my siblings. Hence, bringing up my daughter was just a continuation of my duties,” she explained.

Leino says the cultural differences between her and her husband are no obstacle.

“Yes I am an African woman from a small country in the south-western part of Africa and my husband is a European from France. We have overcome our differences through our love and respect for one another and I tend to think that tolerance has also played a big part.

“My husband is loving and caring and coming from the background of an athlete we have learnt to accept each other’s shortcomings and differences. In Namibia we have our own cultural differences and that helped me adapt to my new situation,” she said.

Leino said although she did not experience it personally, she was shocked at the level of racism in Finland, adding that she did not witness such during the six years she lived in France.

She admitted that she misses being part of the Namibian national athletics team, the tough training regiment, competitions and the adrenaline rush, when asked what she misses the most from her competitive days.

She said her third place finish at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 1998 was her best race ever, adding that it was a great honour to win a medal for Namibia at an international event even though it was just a bronze medal.

But is she living her dream right now?

“Of course!” she exclaimed, “I am very grateful for my life and I am happy that I did sport. I have travelled a lot to many countries that I could never have seen if I was not an athlete. There is hardly a big event I haven’t participated in around the world.

She said her husband helps with household chore and that if she is working he cooks for them and she does the same when he is at work.

Asked what she misses most from home she excitedly said she misses her Namibian people the most adding that the different sounds of the many languages spoken in our country gives her so much joy.

“It is just so much fun when you hear Otjiherero here, Oshiwambo there then the beautiful cliques of the Damara-Nama people, not forgetting that we also have Batswana and the other people from the north-east, the brothers and sisters from the Kavangos and Zambezi regions.