Paralympian Muvunyi has world at his feet

The African record holder and world champion Hermas Cliff Muvunyi is probably the most successful Rwandan athlete after winning a gold medal at the IPC World Athletics Championships held in Lyon, France last month.The 24-year-old Muvunyi was born in Kamonyi District, Southern Province to Sylvestre Habimana and Lydia Nyiramasirabo. He has two sisters and four brothers.Muvunyi was born with a simple right-arm disability which worsened at the age of six when the same arm got injured while playing football in his neighbourhood with his age-mates.The African record holder attended Mugina B primary school, did his Ordinary level (O’level) at College Saint Ignace before heading to Kanyabanda for his advanced level (A’Level) where he completed his secondary school studies in 2007. Early daysFrom 2007, when he completed secondary school, Muvunyi started working on his career of athletics after realising he had the talent.In April 2009, Muvunyi joined Kamonyi Athletics Club but he did not stay there for long as five months later military side APR athletics club, came for his signature.He competed in only one tournament for Kamonyi at the national Inter-clubs tournament that was held in Muhanga where he caught the eye of APR following Kamonyi’s success as the overall winners.Since joining APR, Muvunyi has participated in various international tournaments among them, the African Athletics Championship in Kenya in 2009, Commonwealth Games held in India in 2010, All African Games tournament in Mozambique in 2011 from where he qualified for 2012 London Paralympics Games.Muvunyi holds the African record of the fastest Paralympian in 400m that he set in last year’s London Paralympics Games from which he got the ticket to the just ended IPC world athletics championship in Lyon, France where he won the first ever gold medal for Rwanda in a global championship.AchievementsRwanda’s most successful Paralympian has already won three international gold and two silver medals.In 2009 in African athletics championship held in Kenya, he won gold in 400m and a silver medal in 800m, at All African games in Mozambique he claimed gold in 400m and silver in 800m and recently he clinched gold at the IPC world athletics championship in France.IPC athletics championshipMuvunyi says he had not prepared very well for the IPC world athletics championship and didn’t expect a medal but what was on his mind was to fight for his country’s pride and thanks to his spirit of patriotism he got the gold medal in men’s 800m-T46 category.Following his success at IPC world athletics championship in France, he was approached by a number of French club offers but he turned them down in preference to continue his career at APR.For his achievement in Lyon, Muvunyi received Rwf4million in cash reward, Rwf3million from the Ministry for Sports and Culture (MINISPOC) and Rwf1million from National Paralympic Committee (NPC).According to NPC president Celestin Nzeyimana, the athlete’s success is as a result of extra hours, hard work in training and determination to succeed.“Muvunyi is a national hero in my eyes, so we can’t let him down. We will help and support him to participate in as many different international competitions as possible,” he said.Nzeyimana noted that NPC Rwanda is ready to support Muvunyi not only in his athletics career but also in his personal projects that he may wish to venture into beyond running or after he retires like coaching or/and leadership skills so that he can work for NPC in the future.He added, “Hard work pays, Muvunyi is a hard worker and through his everyday efforts he managed to fly high the country’s flag at the World Championships in France and we are proud of him.”As for the athlete himself, the journey to the top continues as he attempts to go a step further by winning a gold medal at the next Paralympic Games, “that is my dream,” he stated. His focus now is on next year’s Commonwealth Games to be held in Glasgow, ScotlandAccording to his coach, Eric Karasira, Muvunyi will compete in 2015 All Africa Games to be staged in Congo Brazzaville in preparation for the Brazil 2016 Paralympics Games.Despite the fact that he brought the medal home, Muvunyi is still a young man facing the same challenges as all the other youth of his age including financial constraints. Apart from running for a living, Muvunyi has no side job to generate him more income to look after himself and his elderly mother, who was at Kigali international airport to welcome him from France on Tuesday night.