Sari Essayah

Miriam Sari Essayah ( born February 21, 1967 in Haukivuori ) is a former Finnish athlete and currently Member of the European Parliament for the Christian Democratic Party.

Sports

Sari Essayah, child of a Moroccan father and a Finnish mother, began her international career as a race walker in 1987 with a nine tenth place in the 10 - km walk on the street at the World Championships. Your first medal she won with a third place over 5,000 meters on the track at the Universiade 1989 in Duisburg. In the 10 - km walk on the road followed in 1990 a fifth place at the European Championships. In 1991, she won at the Universiade and reached at the World Championships in third place. In the 1992 Olympics she finished fourth.

Your biggest success Sari Essayah again in Germany at the World Championships in Stuttgart in 1993. She won in 42:59 minutes nine seconds ahead of the Italian Ileana Salvador. In 1994 the title at the European Championships in Helsinki. In 42:37 min she won with six seconds ahead of the Italian Anna Rita Sidoti. 1995 was Sari Essayah at the World Championships just seven seconds behind gold, finished in 42:20 minutes but only fourth place. At the end of her career Sari Essayah took part in the Olympic Games in 1996 and reached number 16 in part

Policy

After her sports career Sari Essayah went into politics. She was chosen for the Christian Democrats in the Reichstag and took over the group's presidency. In the parliamentary election in March 2007, they failed to re-election. In the European elections of 2009, the Christian Democrats won a mandate that perceives Sari Essayah. Essayah is in the Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and as a member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, the Delegation for relations with Israel and the Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean worked.

In the 2012 presidential election candidate Essayah for president. She received 2.5 % of the vote, which they could not exploit the potential voters of the Christian Democrats.