Dj Vnyash
Team Kenya faced a disappointing start at the Paris Olympic Games, with fencer Alexandra Ndolo, swimmer Ridhwan Abubakar, and the rugby team Shujaa all experiencing early exits on Saturday.
Ndolo, who made history as Kenya’s first Olympic fencer, ranked 14th in the 2023/24 season and was the highest-ranked African to secure a spot at the Paris Games. She was eliminated after a thrilling 13-12 loss to Ukrainian Olena Kryvystka. Just the night before, Ndolo expressed her determination on social media, stating, “I intend to make every second count.”
Vivian Man Wai of Hong Kong won the title, while Auriane Mallo from France and Hungary’s Eszter Muhari took home silver and bronze, respectively. After representing Germany for 15 years and winning bronze at the World Fencing Championships, Ndolo switched allegiance to Kenya in 2022 to honor her late father, who was raised in the East African country. “I feel like even when it has been hard, he’s with me every step of the way,” Ndolo shared.
Kenya aspired to be the third African nation to win an Olympic fencing medal, following Egypt’s Alaaeldin Abouelkassem (silver in London 2012) and Tunisia’s Ines Boubakri (bronze in Rio 2016).
In the men’s 400m freestyle, Abubakar finished fourth in heat 1 with a time of 4:05.14, placing behind Costa Rica’s Alberto Vega (4:03.14), Raekwon Noel from Guyana (4:02.29), and Morocco’s Ilias El Fallaki (4:01.59). This result ranked him 36th overall, with Germany’s Lukas Martens (3:44.13), Australia’s Elijah Winnington (3:44.87), and Germany’s Oliver Klemet (3:45.75) taking the podium spots. Abubakar qualified for the Olympics by breaking his national record in Croatia last month, improving from 4:05.65 to 4:04.39, which earned him 730 World Aquatic points.
Abubakar aimed to follow in the footsteps of Kenyan swimming legend Jason Dunford, who competed in the 2012 London and 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The national Sevens rugby team, Shujaa, also had a disappointing outing, finishing ninth after a narrow 10-5 victory over Samoa in the ninth-place playoff. They failed to win any matches in the group stages, where they were grouped with Olympic bronze medalists Australia and Samoa. Shujaa lost their first group match 31-12 to Argentina, followed by a 21-7 defeat to Australia, and a final 26-0 loss to Samoa. Last year, Shujaa achieved a stunning 17-12 victory over South Africa at the Africa men’s Sevens in Harare, Zimbabwe, to qualify for the Olympics.
