Rwandan athletes look forward to competition time

BEIJING - Rwandan athletes are keen on making a disciplined and aggressive involvement in the 29th Olympic Games, which officially opened on Friday here in Beijing, China. Speaking to Sunday Sport, team captain and marathon runner Epiphanie Nyirabarame said, “We have trained intensively since we arrived here and our focus has always been one: to get that medal. “They are many world stars here whom we chat and train with daily and it is upon us to show them that we are capable of,” Nyirabarame stated. Nyirabarame, who replaced Dieudonne Disi as captain is hopeful that the Rwanda team could come away from the Beijing Games happier than all the previous Games. Meanwhile, the Beijing Olympic Games started with a dramatic opening ceremony which featured a cast of thousands of people at the newly-built National Olympic Stadium commonly known as a Bird’s nest on Friday night. The Minister of Culture and Sports Joseph Habineza and Rwanda’s ambassador to China Ben Ruganganzi were among the witnesses in the VIP seats alongside Chinese host President Hu Jintao, US President George W. Bush and other 120 world leaders and government representatives. The three hour show remained an epic challenge for the Rwandan contingent which paraded inside the stadium to honour the opening ceremony. The Rwandan contingent which was led by flag carrier Pamela Girimbabazi were left astounded by what observers have described as the most sophisticated opening ceremony ever in the history of the Olympic Games with thousands of performers entertaining a 91,000 strong audience. The ceremony started at exactly eight seconds and eight minutes past eight o’clock on August 8, 2008. When asked why China chose this date, some locals here said that (in the Chinese tradition) eight is always considered a blessed number that they claimed brings with it good luck. Girimbabazi, who’s participating in her third consecutive Olympic Games, admitted that what she saw on the opening ceremony in Beijing dwarfs both the Sydney 2000 and Athens Games 2004. Rwanda team entered the Olympic stadium at exactly 9.45 pm (3.45pm Rwanda time) with Girimbabazi, 50m freestyle swimmer bearing the national flag as athletes marched around the stadium. She was followed by Chef de mission Thierry Ntwali, and other members on the team. After the March and parade of athletes, former Chinese gymnastics star Li Ning carried the Olympic flame as he was lifted to the air to lighten of the flame cauldron. The ceremony which tinted Chinese history and culture used harmony as its theme which was permit “Beautiful Olympics” by Chinese designers. The ceremony saw China’s Liu Huan and Briton Sarah singing the Olympics games theme song before they were joined by movie star Jackie Chan to wind the ceremony. Ends