BOSTON — He returned his winner's medal last time. Two months after the Tsarnaev brothers decided hate was the answer, Lelisa Desisa decided hate was no answer at all.
So there stood the lithe Ethiopian in late June 2013, in Boston Common for a 10-kilometer race organized by the Boston Athletic Association. He was presenting his Boston Marathon medal to Mayor Thomas Menino, returning it to the city to honor those murdered and injured in the marathon bombings.
Only a few hours after Desisa had crossed the finish line on April 15, 2013, for the greatest victory of his life, the earth trembled a few feet away on Boylston Street with horrifying defeat.