Rwanda — Welcome to London 2012
The sport is not a name associated with Rwanda, but in July 1996, the then war-torn nation (during the 1970s, known as the “Switzerland of Africa” due to its extraordinary landscapes with lakes, rivers and high mountains) made international headlines when represented by four athletes at the Atlanta Centennial Games. It was a memorable moment when the Rwandan national contingent entered the Stadium, while behind them they had a small country devastated by genocidal wars, death camps, corruption, rape, poverty and the slaughter of gorillas (the national symbol of the country). During the civil conflict of 1990-1996, more than a million people were massacred.
Unlike its twin Burundi (who surprisingly won a gold medal in athletics in Atlanta ’96), the Rwandan team did not win medals in Georgia, but captured the hearts of people around the world through sport, becoming heroes. international as happened when the Bosnia Herzegovina delegation arrived in Barcelona four years earlier. In fact, the country’s athletes gave a lesson in courage, determination and Olympic spirit, after overcoming obstacles and setbacks to go to America. Without a doubt, running back Mathias Ntawulikura was one of them. With his eighth place in the men’s 10,000m (track and field), long-distance runner Ntawulikura had become the country’s most successful athlete on the Olympic stage (no other Rwandan athlete had ever reached the final), followed by Marcianne Mukamurenzi, who placed 38th in the women’s marathon in Seoul in 1988.
In the gorilla kingdom!
Traditionally, the country participates with long-distance runners and freestyle swimmers in the multi-sport event. Meanwhile, he has yet to compete in team sports, such as soccer or basketball, at the Olympic Championships.
The French-speaking nation of Rwanda, bordered by Burundi, DR Congo, Tanzania and Uganda, made its international debut at the event exactly in 1984 when the national delegation competed in the Games of the 23rd Olympiad in Los Angeles (CA). In the United States, the landlocked nation of Rwanda – geographically the size of Maryland / Wales – was represented by one of the smallest athletic contingents in the Third World. It was a time when the African republic, independent since the early 1960s after being an absolutist monarchy for centuries, was ruled by Juvenal Habyarimana, a military leader who came to power during a coup in the early decade. 1970.
During the 1970s and 1980s, in many ways, the mountainous country, which has one of the most delicious coffees in the world, was a peaceful place and a friendly land, unlike Uganda, Mozambique and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in that moment. – despite being one of the poorest republics in East Africa.
In other respects, this land began to be known worldwide for mountain gorillas thanks to the works and articles of Dian Fossey, which were published in the prestigious National Geographic magazine. Yet who could have imagined that Rwanda would be a war-torn country for decades to come?
Rwanda at the 1988 Seoul Olympics
His second appearance came in the 1988 Korean Olympiad, a year after attending the 1987 African Games. The Rwandan Olympic Committee sent a six-person team to Seoul, competing in athletics. On South Korean soil, Miss Mukamurenzi became one of the most successful national athletes at the Summer Olympics by finishing 38th in the Second Women’s Olympic Marathon in October 1988. Historically, she was one of the two most respected female runners in the world. Africa’s Great Lakes region in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In addition to winning all 10,000 at the Regional Championships, he set two Rwandan records that year. A year ago, she was runner-up behind Leah Malot of Kenya in the women’s 10,000m at the 1987 Continental Games with a time of 33: 58.55 and finished as one of the top 27 marathon runners at the World Tournament in Italy. In the early 1990s, he had his best performance when he was in the top ten in the Global Cup. Long-distance runner Mukamurenzi, meanwhile, trained at the altitude of Rwanda, an ideal region for runners and marathoners.
In 1992, four years later, in the Spanish city of Barcelona, there were representatives in two sports: cycling and athletics, both traditional sports on Rwandan soil. With a total of 10 athletes, the 1992 national team is the largest delegation in the country’s Olympic history.
At the quadrennial Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia in 2000, there were national participants in athletics and swimming. There, the country’s sports idol, Ntawulikura, made his fourth consecutive appearance, leaving an important legacy for Rwanda’s Olympic system. In the upcoming Summer Games, the nation’s sports authorities sent runners and swimmers to Athens, Greece. In 2008, once again, the Rwandan athletic team competed in water sports and athletics and was one of the smallest delegations on Earth at the multi-sport event in mainland China.
By July 2012, the Rwanda Olympic Committee plans to send a small delegation of four or five athletes to the UK. So far, marathon runner Jean Pierre Mvuyekure and cyclist Adrien Niyonshuti have qualified for the London 2012 Games. Rwanda cycling has not competed in the Games since 1992. Meanwhile, the landlocked nation could also compete in sports like boxing, judo and swimming. Currently, Mr. Fred Yannick Sekamana is by far the most outstanding athlete in the French-speaking republic. Like most African athletes, this judoka lives and trains in France.
