Wellington Zaza (born 20 January 1995) is a Liberian

hurdler Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

who specializes in the

110 meters hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hur ...

and the

400 meters hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ar ...

. Zaza is the African junior record holder in the 110 metres hurdles. He broke that record at the

2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born 1995 or later) which was held at the Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, USA, on 22–27 July 2014. A total of 44 a ...

. He has also competed at a

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Early life

Zaza was born on 20 January 1995, a member of the

Krahn The Krahn are an ethnic group of Liberia and Ivory Coast. This group belongs to the Kru language family and its people are sometimes referred to as the Wee, Guéré, Sapo, or Wobe. It is likely that Western contact with the Kru language is the p ...

tribe. Zaza's father had ties with the

Samuel Doe Samuel Kanyon Doe (6 May 1951 – 9 September 1990) was a Liberian politician who served as the 21st president of Liberia from 1980 to 1990. Doe ruled Liberia as Chairman of the People's Redemption Council (PRC) from 1980 to 1984 and then a ...

government, and as such, after Doe was deposed, Zaza's father was made a political prisoner. In 1999, Zaza's mother was able to flee the

Second Liberian Civil War The Second Liberian Civil War was a conflict in the West African nation of Liberia lasted from 1999 to 2003. It was preceded by the First Liberian Civil War, which ended in 1996. President Charles Taylor came to power in 1997 after victory in t ...

and go to the United States. The same year, Zaza as refugee arrived in the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

. Two years later, Zaza's mother returned, and was able to bring him and his siblings to the United States, where he came to live in

West Philadelphia West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Alhough there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the nort ...

. In 2014, Zaza started to attend

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

, from which he graduated in 2017.

Competition

Zaza's debut at an international athletics competition was at the

. Zaza competed in both the

and the

. For the heat round of the 110 meters hurdles, Zaza was drawn in heat two, a heat containing seven other athletes alongside Zaza. In his heat, Zaza ran a time of 13.66 seconds, a season's best for him, to finish third in his heat. He finished 0.07 seconds behind the heat winner, American Theophile Viltz, and 0.02 seconds behind the heat runner-up, Patrick Elger of Germany. Overall, Zaza was the equal ninth quickest athlete (equal with Hungarian Valdó Szücs) in the heat round. As the top three athletes from each heat qualified for the semi-finals, Zaza progressed. In the semi-final, Zaza ran a Liberian junior record time of 13.53 seconds to finish second in the race. Zaza was 0.08 seconds behind the race winner, Jamaican Tyler Mason. Overall, Zaza's time was the fifth quickest in the semi-final round. As the top two finishers from each semi-final qualified for the final, Zaza progressed. In the final, Zaza ran a time of 13.38 seconds. The time was a new African junior record in the 110 meters hurdles. Zaza finished fourth, 0.39 seconds behind the winner,

Wilhem Belocian Wilhem Belocian (born 25 June 1995) is a French hurdler and sprinter from Guadeloupe. Career Belocian won the 110 metre hurdles bronze medal at the 2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics, in a personal best of 13.51 seconds. He won the 110 ...

of France. In the 400 metres hurdles, Zaza did not progress past the heats after his time of 55.38 seconds was not quick enough to progress. At the 2015 World Championships, Zaza was the only competitor from

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

. He competed in the

. He finished last in his heat (of athletes that finished) in a time of 14.56 seconds. Zaza was the second slowest athlete overall in the heat round. Zaza did not progress to the semi-finals.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zaza, Wellington 1995 births Living people Liberian male hurdlers Krahn people Liberian refugees Refugees in the United States Auburn Tigers men's track and field athletes World Athletics Championships athletes for Liberia Place of birth missing (living people) Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 African Games African Games competitors for Liberia Liberian expatriate sportspeople in the United States 21st-century Liberian people