Being part of the Namibian team (and the flag bearer) for the first ever Youth Olympic Games is such an honour. Just being able to attend the Games already meant so much to me

The past few month had been so awesome as of all the support I received leading into the Games and especially the last few weeks, the whole Namibian team just received so much help and support from our IOC, we couldn’t have asked for anything better.

As we arrived on the 11th Sep the stress and worries began as usual, they took my bike at the airport and I only got a chance to build it when I arrived at the race venue some days later.

There were so many swimming pools around, but with all the swimmers we got 1 outside pool with no lanes and as for the running: a nice 15min loop around the village. But at the race venue in East Coast Park there where endless roads along the coast, packed full of people and tourists, easy training could be done but nothing more than that. The weather is extremely humid and hot; it was so difficult to do anything lasting more than 30min, my 2 water bottles on the bike kept me going for 60min.

When race day came I felt so good and my preparations couldn’t have gone any better. I knew I did my best and it’s all up to the race now. The swim started really fast, but I kept in front and got out with the leading bunch. Together with around 6 athletes we worked well on the bike, the chase pack was rather big, but wasn’t strong enough to catch or close the 60sec gap. As I started the run I felt ok, wasn’t feeling too good but I barely ever feel good in the first km, so I kept in mind that I’ll pick up speed soon. After the first lap of 2.5km I pushed myself to pass the 4th athlete, but I couldn’t keep that speed and he soon passed me again, so I just gave it all I got to not let any more athletes pass me. When I crossed the finish line in 5th place, with really tough weather conditions I told myself I raced my best today and knew I gave everything I got.

This was one of the best races I have ever done and it was such a wonderful experience!!!

Now for some more extremely hot training sessions here in Singapore and then off to Budapest for Junior Worlds Championships on the 12 September. And then hopefully back home to South Africa.