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From a tragic childhood to the Tokyo Paralympic Games

2021-08-20T20:54:04.414Z


At the age of two, Asiya Mohammed was hit by a train and lost both legs, and seven years later she was orphaned. But instead of succumbing to adversity, he became an elite athlete


  • 1Paralympic rowing athlete Asiya Mohammed and her head coach Joshua Kendagor take photos with some fans wishing her the best for the Paralympic Games after their training session in Mombasa, Kenya, on July 27, 2021, days before the Start of preparations for Tokyo 2020. 29-year-old Asiya Mohammed will become the first Kenyan woman to attend an Olympics in rowing mode.

    LUIS TATO AFP

  • 2Asiya Mohammed, during a rowing training in Mombasa, Kenya, on July 27, 2021. The athlete has overcome many challenges: As a physically disabled Kenyan woman she has experienced a lack of funding and support, but now lives and trains in a hotel complex with its team to compete in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, which start this August 24. Initially he participated as a professional tennis player, but only two years ago he changed his interests and began to compete in rowing. Her effort has led her to the Olympics. LUIS TATO AFP

  • 3Mohammed walks among sports equipment during her training at the Tudor Hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, where she has been concentrating preparing for the Tokyo Games. At the age of two, this athlete was run over by a train near her home in Kenya, causing her to lose both legs and several fingers. Seven years later, fate struck her again when she was orphaned of father and mother. But instead of succumbing to adversity, she became a Paralympic athlete. LUIS TATO AFP

  • 4Asiya Mohammed receives a massage from Kenyan Olympic team physiotherapist Josephine Kaburu. The athlete was raised by a cousin and studied Teaching, but had never been inclined to sport until five years ago she began to gain weight. "I weighed 70 kilos, which worried my family a lot because of my disability. They advised me to do sports to lose weight and be in shape," he recalls. LUIS TATO AFP

  • 5 At that time, he could choose in his city, Mombasa, between tennis, badminton or rowing.

    And he chose all three, winning medals in various competitions and in wheelchair marathon events.

    But the rowing is the one that has given her the ticket to Tokyo.

    "I realized that I preferred it because of the friendly atmosphere and I decided to practice it until I managed to qualify for the Paralympic Games," confesses Mohammed.

    LUIS TATO AFP

  • 6Asiya Mohammed trains her arms on a machine in the gym at the Tudor hotel in Mombasa. "I decided to abandon teaching entirely and focus entirely on sport, especially rowing," says Mohammed.

    The young woman qualified for her first international competition, the Gavirate Regatta in Italy, in May 2019. LUIS TATO AFP

  • 7Joshua Kendagor places a rowboat in place after Aisya Mohammed's training.

    "She finished second to last, but her passion and interest in rowing impressed the international coaches who attended the event. They felt that it would not take long for her to qualify for the world championships and the Paralympics," recalls Kendagor, a Kenyan naval officer who acts as the athlete's coach and who accompanies her to Tokyo.

    LUIS TATO AFP

  • 8Asiya Mohammed and her coaches Joshua Kendagor and Swaleh Fakii leave a boat after the athlete's training.

    Her ticket to the Paralympic Games sealed her in Tunisia in October 2019, beating seven other participants who, like her, only use the strength of their arms to row.

    LUIS TATO AFP

  • 9A training session of Asiya Mohammed in the waters of Mombasa.

    The journey has not been easy for this athlete.

    She had to overcome numerous obstacles and frustrations, both as a disabled person and as a woman, all with little financial support from the sports federations of the African country.

    LUIS TATO AFP

  • 10Aisya Mohammed is helped out of the boat she has been rowing in.

    Among the difficulties experienced by this young athlete, she says that she had to find her own material among the sponsors of the men's team in order to participate in Tunisia.

    LUIS TATO AFP

  • 11Asiya Mohammed has breakfast with fellow athlete Miriam Nandwa and Kenyan team physiotherapist Josephine Kaburu before her training. "I was so discouraged and frustrated when the Kenyan Rowing Federation and the Kenyan Paralympic Federation told me that they would not support T-shirts in the pre-Olympic qualifications due to lack of funds," laments the athlete. Faced with this situation, his family and friends decided to finance the price of his plane ticket to Tunisia. And it was rewarded: she is the only Kenyan T-shirt to qualify for the Paralympic Games. "I will row until I win a medal at the Paralympic Games," promises Mohammed. LUIS TATO AFP

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2021-08-20

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