- Title: SOUTH SUDAN-OLYMPIC HOPES: South Sudan "cheetahs" sniff the Olympic scent.
- Date: 2nd July 2012
- Summary: TORIT, SOUTH SUDAN (JUNE 27, 2012) (REUTERS) MARATHON RUNNER OYIKI SIRINO EMERGES FROM HIS HOME VARIOUS OF SIRINO TYING HIS SHOES FOUR RUNNERS DO EXERCISE IN FRONT OF BUILDING PAINTED WITH SOUTH SUDAN'S FLAG VARIOUS OF COACH TALKING TO RUNNERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) OYIKI SIRINO, SOUTH SUDANESE MARATHON RUNNER SAYING: "I went through senior one, senior two, and even senior five because of the bursary, the free scholarship of running. That's why I love the sport so much because God gave me advantage in it because in Uganda in exile I was actually an orphan, there was nobody to help me but instead God has given me the talent that I should survive through me legs and that is how I think it happened." MORE OF COACH TALKING TO ATHLETES (SOUNDBITE) (English) OYIKI SIRINO, SOUTH SUDANESE MARATHON RUNNER SAYING: "I'll be happy to go and represent them because I will be like the first person to represent a new nation in the world, and for that I will be happy and for the rest they will be seeing that South Sudan is represented at the olympics in 2012 in London, so many other people will be attracted to join athletics." VARIOUS OF RUNNERS TRAINING (SOUNDBITE) (English) FRANCIS OKESA, SOUTH SUDANESE RUNNER SAYING: "As we are refugees in Uganda we came back to our home so at this time with the South Sudan, we have our new nation, so I think in Olympics this year we are going to try and raise our flag in the Olympics in London." VARIOUS OF ATHLETES JOGGING DURING TRAINING (SOUNDBITE) (English) SEBASTIAN OPOCHO, SECRETARY OF THE EASTERN EQUATORIA ATHLETICS ASSOCIATION, SAYING: "My boys here will get the medals.I am quite sure about them, they are good boys, they have their own coaches, the best ones. There is a need very much, I will ask the government, GOSS, the South Sudan government to release some of these boys to go and compete in the olympics. They will do the best, they will do the best." VARIOUS OF RUNNERS JOGGING PAST PAINTED FLAG VARIOUS OF ATHLETES JOGGING
- Embargoed: 17th July 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Sudan
- Country: Sudan
- Topics: Sports
- Reuters ID: LVA4BNPJ6CJNZPXL7OIOZPV5EJAY
- Story Text: Oyiki Sirino hopes the sinewy legs that once saved him from rebel raiders as a refugee from war can one day carry him and the ambitions of the world's newest nation to the Olympic Games.
Running over the sandy maroon earth at a local airfield at Torit, Sirino, a wiry man with deep-set eyes, is newly-independent South Sudan's top middle and long-distance running hopeful.
Sirino discovered his athletic talent as a refugee in Uganda a dozen years ago, running barefoot at a school sports day. He came second. Four years later, he got his first pair of running shoes, and won a sports scholarship to pay for his education.
"I went through senior one, senior two, and even senior five because of the bursary, the free scholarship of running. That's why I love the sport so much because God gave me advantage in it because in Uganda in exile I was actually an orphan, there was nobody to help me but instead God has given me the talent that I should survive through me legs and that is how I think it happened," Sirino said, beads of sweat running down his nose.
After decades of war, which claimed his mother's life, peace came to South Sudan through a 2005 pact with Khartoum that culminated last year in the South voting to secede, splitting what until then had been Africa's largest country.
One year on and the South's government, mostly composed of former rebels, is struggling to hold the country together as it tackles an economic crisis, deep inherited poverty, a persistent military threat from Khartoum and domestic tribal strife.
The idea, therefore, of raising the black, red and green national flag for the first time at the Olympics in London this month would have been a welcome distraction for the 8.6 million South Sudanese who face huge social and economic challenges.
"I'll be happy to go and represent them because I will be like the first person to represent a new nation in the world, and for that I will be happy and for the rest they will be seeing that South Sudan is represented at the olympics in 2012 in London, so many other people will be attracted to join athletics," Sirino said, wearing a white tracksuit with a cheetah emblazoned on the back, the world's fastest animal and symbol of the South Sudanese state of Eastern Equatoria where he lives.
Sadly though, as things stand, Sirino and other South Sudanese athletes, such as his running mate James Francis Okesa , will not be able to represent their newly independent African country at the London Games.
With the melee of nation-building problems facing South Sudan's new government, it has so far failed to obtain formal international recognition for enough of its national sports federations to have a National Olympic Committee of its own recognised under International Olympic Committee rules.
This means South Sudan cannot yet compete as a nation this year and will have to wait another four years.
If any South Sudanese athletes do qualify for London - which seems unlikely at the moment - their only option would be to compete under the flag of Sudan, the South's former ruler.
Okesa is hopeful that he will be able to carry his country's flag at this year's Olympics.
"As we are refugees in Uganda we came back to our home so at this time with the South Sudan, we have our new nation, so I think in Olympics this year we are going to try and raise our flag in the Olympics in London, " Okesa said.
Running under the flag of Sudan could be too much to swallow for some South Sudanese athletes, some of whom recall bitterly that the north-south enmity under a unified Sudan meant that southerners were often discriminated against in sports.
In the 1970s, a rare decade of peace in Sudan, the southern region had a number of athletes entering international events, but the sports authorities in Khartoum never entered them for the Olympics.
Today, funds, equipment and modern training facilities may all be in short supply, but there is no shortage of raw ambition.
"My boys here will get the medals.I am quite sure about them, they are good boys, they have their own coaches, the best ones. There is a need very much, I will ask the government, GOSS, the South Sudan government to release some of these boys to go and compete in the olympics. They will do the best, they will do the best," said Sebastian Opocho, Sevretaryof the Eastern Equatoria Athletics Association.
South Sudanese athletes said that they believed in the power of sport to cement friendships across borders, something that has so far eluded the two neighbouring Sudans which came close to war again in April over recurring oil and border disputes. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
