Olympics: Nigerian Competitor Thanks German Team for Providing Her With a Bike
Ese Ukpeseraye, Aug. 10, 2024. Photo: X/ @Spor_Tainment
August 10, 2024 Hour: 9:08 am
‘Due to the short notice of me competing at the keirin and sprint, I had no bicycle to race with,’ Ukpeseray said.
Nigeria’s first Olympic cyclist Ese Ukpeseraye has given her thanks to the German team for a gesture which allowed her to make history for her country and compete in both road and track events.
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She was given a late entry into the women’s sprint and Keirin events after arriving in Paris with the Nigerian delegation, but due to the “short notice” given over her inclusion of the events, she didn’t have a specialist track bike to compete.
The cycles used at Olympic and other track events are completely different to those used in road races, without gears or brakes and with a ‘fixed wheel’ system and also a disc wheel on the back to allow for greater aerodynamics.
“Due to the short notice of me competing at the keirin and sprint, I had no bicycle to race with on the tracks,” she wrote on social medial. However, in a sporting gesture the German team came to Ukpeseraye’s rescue by providing the equipment.
“In the spirit of sportsmanship, the German team came to my rescue by offering me a bicycle,” explained the 25-year-old.
Although she failed to pass the first round in the keirin or qualify for the knockout rounds in the sprint, she posted a respectable time of 11.652 seconds, just over a second and a half down on Lea Friedrich of Germany, who set a new qualification record of 10.029 seconds.
The 25-year-old Ukpeseraye has won multiple gold medals at the African track cycling championships, as well as in the road race at the 2023 African Road Championships. She also competed at the 2021 and 2023 UCI Track Cycling World Championships.
teleSUR/ JF Source: Xinhua
