Paris: Nigeria’s first Olympic cyclist 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.
Ese Ukpeseraye 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 in 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 in a social media post.
However, in a sporting gesture, the German team came to Ukpeseraye’s rescue by providing the equipment, reports Xinhua.
“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.
–IANS