Perina Lokure Nakang of the ART at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships Belgrade 24. [Courtesy]
Athlete refugees have shared their lofty ambitions, promising to shine like their counterparts flying their national flags at international championships.
Some of them are preparing to compete at the Kenyan national trials for the 2025 Tokyo World Championships.
On Friday, during the World Refugee Day, the talented asylum seekers pledged strong performances in athletics.
One of their big ambitions this year is to show the world that they would storm to stunning victories and to unite the world through the sport.
Solomon Ayela, whose sprinting talent was identified at the Kakuma Refugee Camp, said he hopes to show other talented asylum seekers that it is possible to bask in athletics glory.
Ayela, a 200m and 400m specialist, said at the World Refugee Day marked at the Complete Sports Training Camp in Kaptagat, to celebrate athletes refugees who secured athletics scholarships in February this year, that alongside his family, they left South Sudan following deadly conflicts.
“I never wanted to leave my country, but I left because of instability,” said Ayela.
When he came to Kaptagat nearly three months ago, Ayela says, he missed his siblings in Kakuma, Turkana County, but he enjoyed the peace and the training regime at his new base.
“The athletics scholarship is my chance to prove my potential in athletics and to show my community in Kakuma that it is possible. We appreciate the love we have been accorded. It has been a lot of hard work and sacrifice,” he said.
The Athlete Refugee Team (ART) is under the watchful eye of head coach, former world 800m champion Janeth Jepkosgei.
Perina Nakang, 22, who also left South Sudan at a young age to find a safe haven in Kakuma said she was preparing to compete at the Kenyan national trials on June 26, with a keen eye on making the refugee team to the World Championships set for September 13-21.
Nakang, who took part in the 2023 World Championships, charged to victory in the women’s 400m during the Central Rift regional track and field championships at the Eliud Kipchoge Sports Complex in Kapsabet last weekend.
“I celebrate my performance this season because I have run well. I am also excited because I have the opportunity to train with my Kenyan counterparts in Kaptagat,” she said during the World Refugee Day celebrations.
Abdifattah Hassan, who left Soomaali Galbeed in Eastern Ethiopia for Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya in 2009, following deadly fights, is also dreaming big.
“War broke out in my home country, and we left. I hope to be a good athlete so that I give it a good name,” says Hassan. He is a 1500m athlete.
Complete Sports Director Japheth Kimutai, a former 800m Commonwealth champion, lauded schools in Cheptigit, where the training base is located, for giving the athletes the opportunity to study as they prepare for races.
“For the last two months, the athletes refugees have shown a lot of improvement. They came here when they were not sure of what to do. Through Janeth Jepkosgei’s training programmes, they have known their specialisations,” said Kimutai.
Jepkosgei said their athlete refugee selection and training is part of the preparations for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
“We have so many talented refugees, but we want to prepare the few that we are training to demonstrate to the world that there is potential in them,” the coach said.
Athletics Kenya (AK) president Jackson Tuwei, National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) president Paul Tergat and two-time Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge graced the event.
Tuwei said AK has been working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to give athlete refugees opportunities to train and compete.
“For the first time, the athlete refugee team will be taking part in the 2026 Youth Olympics in Dakar (Senegal),” the AK president said.