Sari Miriam Essayah is a Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 retired race walker

Race walking

Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance athletic event. Although it is a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times...

 and a politician, Member of the European Parliament

Member of the European Parliament

A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...

 since 2009. Her father is from Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

.

After retiring from sports she entered politics and represented the Christian Democrats

Christian Democrats (Finland)

The Christian Democrats is a Christian democratic political party in Finland. Formerly known as the Finnish Christian League , the Christian Democrats have six seats in the Finnish Parliament and one in the European Parliament.The party was founded in 1958, chiefly from the Christian faction of...

 in the Finnish parliament between 2003–2007 but failed to get reelected in the election of 2007. She surved as the Christian Democrats' party secretary from 2007 to 2009. Essayah was elected to the European Parliament

European Parliament

The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

 in 2009.

Achievements

Representing
1987	World Championships 1987 World Championships in Athletics The 2nd World Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations were held in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy between August 28 and September 6, 1987.-Track:1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995...	Rome, Italy	19th	10 km 1987 World Championships in Athletics - Women's 10 km Walk These are the official results of the Women's 10 km Walk event at the 1987 World Championships in Rome, Italy. The race was held on Tuesday 1 September 1987.-Medalists:-Abbreviations:*All times shown are in hours:minutes:seconds-Records:...
1989	Universiade	Duisburg Duisburg - History :A legend recorded by Johannes Aventinus holds that Duisburg, was built by the eponymous Tuisto, mythical progenitor of Germans, ca. 2395 BC... , West Germany West Germany West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....	3rd	5000 m
1990	European Championships 1990 European Championships in Athletics The 15th European Athletics Championships were held from 26 August to 2 September 1990 in Split, a city in Croatia .It was the last participation of East Germany ....	Split Split (city) Split is a Mediterranean city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, centered around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian and its wide port bay. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatian city and... , Yugoslavia Yugoslavia Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....	5th	10 km
1991	World Race Walking Cup 1991 IAAF World Race Walking Cup The 1991 IAAF World Race Walking Cup was held on 1 and 2 June 1991 in the streets of San Jose, California, USA.-Medallists:-Men's 20 km:-Men's 50 km:* 15th place missing from results reference.-Women's 10 km:-References:* - IAAF.org...	San Jose San Jose, California San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay... , United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	16th	10 km
	Universiade	Sheffield Sheffield Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely... , England England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...	1st	10 km
	World Championships 1991 World Championships in Athletics The 3rd World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan between August 23 and September 1 and athletes from 167 countries participated in the event.The event is best-remembered for the...	Tokyo Tokyo , ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family... , Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...	3rd	10 km 1991 World Championships in Athletics - Women's 10 km Walk These are the official results of the Women's 10 km Walk event at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan. There were a total number of 42 participating athletes, with the final held on Saturday August 24, 1991 with the start at 10:25h local time....
1992	Olympic Games Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, 43 events in athletics were contested, 24 events by men and 19 by women. The competition ran from July 31, 1992 to August 9, 1992. Fourteen world record-holders were among the contenders...	Barcelona, Spain	4th	10 km
1993	World Race Walking Cup 1993 IAAF World Race Walking Cup The 1993 IAAF World Race Walking Cup was held on 24 and 25 April 1993 in the streets of Monterrey, Mexico.-Medallists:-Men's 20 km:-Men's 50 km:-Women's 10 km:* 15th place missing from results reference.-References:* - IAAF.org...	Monterrey, Mexico	2nd	10 km
	World Championships 1993 World Championships in Athletics The 4th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Gottlieb Daimler Stadium, Stuttgart, Germany between August 13 and August 22 with the participation of 187 nations....	Stuttgart, Germany	1st	10 km 1993 World Championships in Athletics - Women's 10 km Walk These are the official results of the Women's 10 km Walk event at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. There were a total of 53 participating athletes, with the final held on Saturday August 14, 1993.-Medalists:-Final ranking:...
1994	European Championships 1994 European Championships in Athletics The 16th European Athletics Championships were held from 7 August to 14 August 1994 in the Olympic Stadium of Helsinki, Finland.-Track:1986 |1990 |1994 |1998 |2002 |-Field:1986 |1990 |1994 |1998 |2002 |-Track:1986 |1990 |1994 |1998 |2002 |-Field:...	Helsinki, Finland	1st	10 km
1995	World Race Walking Cup 1995 IAAF World Race Walking Cup The 1995 IAAF World Race Walking Cup was held on 29 and 30 April 1995 in the streets of Beijing, China.-Medallists:-Men's 20 km:-Men's 50 km:-Women's 10 km:-References:* - IAAF.org...	Beijing Beijing Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's... , PR China	12th	10 km
	World Championships 1995 World Championships in Athletics The 5th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg, Sweden between August 5 and August 13.This edition featured 1804 athletes from 191 nations....	Gothenburg, Sweden	4th	10 km 1995 World Championships in Athletics - Women's 10 km Walk These are the official results of the Women's 10 km Walk event at the 1995 World Championships held on Monday 7 August 1995 in Gothenburg, Sweden...
1996	Olympic Games Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, 44 events in athletics were contested, 24 by men and 20 by women. There were a total number of 2053 participating athletes from 191 countries.-Men:...	Atlanta, United States Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...	16th	10 km Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics - Women's 10 km walk These are the official results of the Women's 10 km Walk at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. There were a total of 44 competitors, with one athlete who did not finish the race and five disqualifications.-Medalists:-Abbreviations:...

External links

• Sari Essayah website
• sports-reference