Paris: The first-ever Olympic cyclist from Nigeria expressed her gratitude to the German team for their kindness, which enabled her to compete in both road and track events and create history for her nation.
After travelling to Paris with the Nigerian delegation, Ese Ukpeseraye was allowed to enter the women’s sprint and Keirin events later than planned. However, because of the “short notice” given to her inclusion in the events, she could not race with a track bike.
The bicycles used in road races are very different from those used in Olympic and other track events; they have disc wheels on the back to increase aerodynamics, no gears or brakes, and a “fixed wheel” arrangement.
“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, according to Xinhua, the German crew gave Ukpeseraye the tools she needed to be saved in a show of goodwill.
“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
