Category: <span>Press Releases</span>

Rwanda expects to send a record 25 athletes to compete at the upcoming Summer Olympics that will be held in the Brazilian capital, Rio de Janeiro from August 5-21, 2016.

The Rwanda National Olympic and Sport Committe (RNOSC) has identified 13 sports disciplines to commence preparations and they include archery, athletics, boxing, cycling, augmentin, football, golf, judo, lawn tennis, shooting, swimming, taekwondo and volleyball.

The National Paralympic Committee will also send athletes to Rio de Janeiro as well.

In total, over 150 athletes will be involved in the qualification process as the focus will narrow down to the goal of 25 athletes with a chance to win medals for Rwanda.

The responsible federations have already laid out strategic planning to participate in several global and continental competitions over the course of time in preparation for the prestigious Olympics.

RNOSC Secretary General Ahmed Habineza said, “Champions are not made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them, a desire, a dream, a vision.”

In line with our program ‘Reach the Podium’, this is an opportunity for the athletes to compete at the highest level and with all the support they need, this is an achievable objective.

The highest number of athletes Rwanda has ever sent to the Olympics is 10 (Barcelona 1992) and at the recent London 2012 Games, Rwanda sent seven athletes.

The Rwanda National Olympic and Sport Committee (RNOSC) is currently exploring the possibility of competing at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games that will be held in Pyeongchang in the Republic of Korea from February 9-25.

This follows a recent visit of a six-man delegation from Rwanda that trained at the Alpensia resort in Pyeongchang from January 12-27, with focus on downhill skiing as a test event at the ‘Dream Program’, an annual winter sports training camp for international youths including those in snowless regions.

Led by Martin Koonce, the Executive Director of the RNOSC, Rwanda was represented by three Paralympians namely; IPC World Championships gold medalist Hermas Cliff Muvunyi, Emile Cadet Vuningabo and Dinnah Kabazayire as well as two taekwondo players including Daphine Uwababyeyi and Vincent Munyakazi.

“It is a real possibility that Rwandans can participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics and be competitive if we begin preparing now and if we believe,” mentioned Koonce who was also coach in Pyeongchang.

The focus will be to compete in downhill skiing, short track speed skating, crosscountry skiing and biathlon, which is a combination of shooting and crosscountry skiing.

Muvunyi expressed delight and said, “It was a good experience and there is hope that we can perform well and with the same enthusiasm, the 15 year old Uwababyeyi, a junior taekwondo player said, “This is the best time of my life. My world has changed.”

Over 150 youths from 37 countries from across the world took part in this 10-year program including Brunei, Philippines, Ukraine, India, Thailand, Guatemala, Ecuador, Mexico as well as other African countries like Togo, Gabon, Morocco, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda.

Rwanda will be represented by 21 athletes at the Commonwealth Games scheduled to be held in Glasgow, Scotland from July 23-August 3, 2014.

Five sports disciplines have been selected and that herpes virus athletics, boxing, cycling, swimming and paralympics. Below are the specifications of Rwanda’s participation;

*Please note that there are seven cyclists, five will compete in the team time trial, three of whom will compete in the individual time trial and then two in the mountain bike category.

The chef de mission to Glasgow, Serge Mwambali said, “We are going to do our best. Athletes are very committed and very soon we shall start training camps.”

This is the second time that Rwanda will participate in the quadrennial Games that will attract over 10, 000 athletes from 71 nations and territories of the Commonwealth.

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