Mesfen Tesfaye

Mesfen Tesfaye was, alongside his friend Zehaye Bahta, one of the first Eritreans to compete at the Olympic Games, doing so under the flag of Ethiopia at Melbourne in 1956. Both were members of the Gruppo Ciclistico Africa club located in Asmara, and made up half of the first Ethiopian Olympic cycling team. Competing in the individual and team road race events, Tesfaye finished 36th in a field of 88 other competitors and helped the Ethiopian team to a ninth place finish in the group event.

A mechanic by profession, Mesfen later ran a cycling shop near Kagnew Station in Asmara and trained the Ethiopian and Eritrean national cycling teams in the late 1960s and 1970s. He was married and had a son, though later separated from his wife, who then lived in Italy. His son, Dawit Mesfen became a notable author and activist on topics relating to his home country.