TEAM Nigeria cyclist Ese Ukpeseraye would have missed a key event at the Paris 2024 Olympics if not for help from the German team.
Ukpeseraye is the first Nigerian to ever compete in Olympics cycling, but she was left stranded in one of her events without a bicycle to race with yesterday.
She eventually was able to participate, but that was because Germany came to her rescue.
“Due to the short notice of me competing at the keirin & sprint, #teamNigeria I had no bicycle to race with on the tracks,” Ukpeseraye wrote on X today.
“In the spirit of sportsmanship, the German team @bunddeutscherradfahr came to my rescue by offering me a bicycle. Thank you.”
Ukpeseraye’s professional cycling team, Canyon-STRAM Generation, also expressed gratitude to Germany for helping their athlete.
“Special thanks to the German track team for providing Ese Ukpeseraye with a track bike after she received a late call-up for the Keirin and Sprint events at #Paris2024,” they wrote.
Ukpeseraye, 25, had a decent outing in the Keirin event, where she was the only African among 30 competitors.
She finished sixth in heat 1 of the event and missed out on an automatic spot into the quarter-finals.
In the repechage round (second chance), Ukpeseraye finished fifth, beating France’s Divine Kouame but not advancing to the quarter-finals.
Earlier in the competition, Ukpeseraye also took part in the gruelling road race but did not finish.
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