Monika Kørra

Norwegian author and former track and field athlete

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Monika Kørra

Born	(1989-09-05) September 5, 1989 (age 34)
Education	Southern Methodist University
Occupation	Author
Works	Kill the Silence

Monika Kørra (born September 5, 1989) is a Norwegian author and former track and field athlete from Løten.

Running

In 2008, she won the bronze medal in the 3000 metre steeplechase at the Norwegian championships representing the Norwegian club Friidrettsklubben Ren-Eng. She also competed in the 3000 metre steeplechase at the 2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics, finishing twelfth in her heat and failing to reach the final.^[1]^[2]

Authorship

Kørra won a sports scholarship at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. On December 5, 2009, she was kidnapped, assaulted and raped by three men living illegally in the United States.^[3]^[4] Arturo Arevalo and Alfonso Zuniga received life sentences while the third, Luis Zuniga, received 25 years.^[5] Instead of staying silent about her ordeal, she chose to come forward with her story and in 2015, she completed a book in English entitled Kill the Silence stating that, "It's not what happens to you, but how you respond to it that matters." In her book, she details how she forgave her perpetrators, telling them: "I don't hate them; I hate what they did to me. Two of them even cried...That really meant a lot to me because then I saw that it is something good in everyone."^[6] She went on to graduate from Southern Methodist University.^[7]

In 2012, she founded the Monika Kørra Foundation dedicated to creating awareness of the prevalence and effects of sexual assault and to provide a place of healing for victims.^[8] She has appeared in the media in both the United States and Norway including as a guest on the TV talk show Skavlan on October 9, 2015.^[9] In 2009, Kørra was awarded the SMU Athletics' Perseverance Award for her courage. In 2012, she received the Wilma Rudolph Student Athlete Achievement Award.

References

^ "3000 meter hinder/steeplechase". Norwegian Athletics. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
^ "K". Norwegian Athletics. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
^ Dallas Morning News: "SMU student turns rape into message of survival" April 2011
^ Good Housekeeping Magazine: "My Good Deed Turned Into My Worst Nightmare" By Monika Kørra December 23, 2015
^ CBS DFW:"3rd Man Sentenced In SMU Student’s Rape" April 29, 2011
^ ESPN: "Monika Korra breaks the silence" by Kory Kozak April 15, 2012
^ Dallas Obsrver: "Monika Korra: The Survivor" By Anna Merlan June 23, 2012
^ Premiere Speaker's Bureau: "Monika Korra" retrieved February 20, 2017
^ nettavisen.no: Gjengvoldtatt av tre menn - nå har hun tilgitt dem, hentet 10. oktober 2015