The 800m runner, in only his second Olympic Games, received widespread online accolades after rising from the starting blocks to finish his qualifying round.
J. Chiengjiek Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
After a disappointing performance in his men’s 800 metre heat, IOC Refugee Olympic Team runner James Nyang Chiengjiek collapsed early on and did not recover, leaving him in a state of despair.
The South Sudanese immigrant stumbled just after the race began when he accidently clipped the foot of another competitor. However, Chiengjiek demonstrated the determination of a true champion by picking himself up and continuing on.
The athlete, who was on the first refugee team at Rio 2016, was devastated by the result. Online users were really impressed by his courage and determination to get back up after falling down.
Struggling to improve one’s lot in life
Chiengjiek, who was born in what is now South Sudan, fled the Sudanese Civil War a few years after his father was killed there. After moving to Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp, he attended school and began running after joining a group of older guys training for marathons.
He was initially given aid by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, then in 2013 he began training with the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation. The 29-year-old athlete has gone on to compete for both the United States and the Athlete Refugee Team (ART) of the World Athletics.
At the 2019 IAAF World Relays, he and Rose Nathike, also of the Tokyo IOC Refugee Olympic Team, placed sixth in the mixed 2x2x400m relay on behalf of ART.
Her Personal Life And Biography:
Bentiu, South Sudan is James’s hometown. His father served in the military and was killed in 1999. James used to tend cattle when he was just a kid. When war broke out in South Sudan, he fled the country rather than risk being conscripted.
He reached Kenya in 2002 and, with the help of the UNHCR, found a home in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. He went to class and immediately began to run. In 2013, UNHCR convinced him to apply for membership at the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation, and he has been training there ever since.
As a member of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Refugee Olympic Team, James has competed in the 400-meter dash in both the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
James and two of his Olympic team mates relocated to Canada after Tokyo 2020 to attend school at Sheridan. He is now a dedicated student-athlete training for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
