Rio Olympics: Nyirarukundo ‘excited’ after booking ticket

Solome Nyirarukundo says she is “too excited” after booking her historic ticket to compete in the women 10,000m at the forthcoming 2016 Rio Olympic Games. The athlete has vowed to write history at the world’s biggest sporting event slated for August 5-21 in Brazil. The 19-year-old qualified for the Rio Games on Saturday at the Africa Senior Athletics Championships in Durban, South Africa, to become the latest Rwandan athlete to book a ticket to compete at the three-week multisport event. Nyirarukundo, who has proved to be among the best promising long distance athletes in Rwanda, posted 31:45:82, well below the required qualification minima time of 32 minutes and 15 seconds. She becomes the fourth Rwandan athlete to qualify for the Rio Olympics. The others are; Jean-Baptiste Simukeka and Claudette Mukasakindi currently training in Iten, Kenya as well as Netherland-based Ambroise Uwiragiy. The trio will compete in full marathon. Speaking to Times Sport on phone from Durban, Nyirarukundo, who is affiliated to APR athletics club, expressed her excitement at having achieved her career goal of competing at the Olympics which she described as a “mind-blowing opportunity”. “Up to this time, I cannot believe I have qualified for the Olympics, the competition here was tense and before the race, I felt nervous but when the race started, I can’t figure out where I got the confidence from and managed to break through, Glory be to God,” said Nyirarukundo. She further noted that, “Ever since I started my career, this (qualifying for the Olympics) has been my main ambition, and now the next goal is to try to raise my country’s flag even higher.” Beatha Nishimwe and Clementine Mukandanga were other athletes that had had represented Rwanda at the biennial event; however, both failed to make the cut. Nishimwe failed the standard time in the 1500m by just two seconds. She finished 7th after using four minutes and eight seconds—the standard time being four minutes and six seconds Mukandanga, who also competed in the 10,000m, finished 7th and failed to make the minima after she used 33 minutes 28 seconds and 64 microseconds. The trio returned home last night aboard Kenya airways. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Rio Olympics: Nyirarukundo ‘excited’ after booking ticket