Nyirabarame named Olympic team captain

Team Rwanda starts residential training Epiphanie Nyirabarame will captain the Rwanda team at this year’s Olympic Games in Beijing, China. The 27-year-old athlete was appointed captain at the briefing of Rwanda’s contingent at Amahoro stadium over the weekend. “Given the leading role in the team, I believe we will post a better performance compared to the last edition,” Nyirabarame, who takes over from Dieudonne Disi as captain said. Nyirabarame qualified for the Games after clocking 2:41:33 in the Rome marathon early this year. Disi was the team leader four years ago in Athens and was the obvious choice to lead the team in Beijing but the National Olympics Committee decided to drop him in favour of Nyirabarame. Asked why Disi was dropped, the head of Mission for the Rwandan team to Beijing Thierry Ntwali said, “Disi is only going to be with us from August 10 to 24 yet the captain is supposed to be with the rest of the team throughout, that’s why we went for Nyirabarame.” Meanwhile, the Beijing bound team, with the exception of Disi, who is training in France, started residential training yesterday in Kanombe. The athletes had a small residential stint in May before it was halted for unknown reasons. According to athletics coach Innocent Rwabuhihi, the camp will help in building confidence amongst the athletes. “This camp is going to contribute a lot to the (mental) readiness of our athletes. This is where we get together to focus more on the event,” Rwabuhi said yesterday. Rwanda goes to this year’s Olympic Games with only four athletes, including two runners and two swimmers. Dieudonné Disi (10.000m), Epiphanie Nyirabarame (marathon), Pamela Girimbabazi and Jackson Niyomugabo (swimming) are the only athletes who have qualified for the Games. The 2004 Athens bronze medalist Jean de Dieu Nkundabera (800m) is the lone athlete who will take part in the Paralympics Games due from September 6-17 in Beijing. Ends

Lifestyle

Nyirabarame named Olympic team captain