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UN PhotoUNHCR / PARIS OLYMPICS REFUGEE ATHLETE
STORY: UNHCR / SOUTH SUDAN SUDANESE REFUGEES GRANDI
TRT: 5:35
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: SWAHILI / NATS
DATELINE: VARIOUS, 2024, KENYA
13 JULY 2024, ELDORET, KENYA
1. Med shot, members of the Refugee Olympic Team member running
2. Close up, tree canopy
12 JULY 2024, ELDORET, KENYA
3. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Perina Nakang, Refugee Olympic Team member:
“When I finish and win my race, If I win, I will call my mother and tell her ‘mum I made it!’ I will have succeeded, so now I can back and support my family.”
13 JULY 2024, ELDORET, KENYA
4. Med shot, Perina getting ready to run
5. Med shot, various shots of Perina and colleagues running
12 JULY 2024, ELDORET, KENYA
6. Med shot, Perina and team training
7. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Perina Nakang, Refugee Olympic Team member:
“Training, I just want to focus on training. However painful it may be, I must keep going. I will continue training without complaining so I can be in good shape.”
8. Med shot, various of Perina and other athletes running
9. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Perina Nakang, Refugee Olympic Team member:
“My name is Perina Nakang, I am 21 years old.”
12 JULY 2024, ELDORET, KENYA
10. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Perina Nakang, Refugee Olympic Team member:
“I am running the 800 metres.”
11. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Perina Nakang, Refugee Olympic Team member:
“I’m representing the Refugee Olympic Team.”
12. Wide shot, athletes training in sports complex
13. Med shot, Perina and athletes stretching
14. Med shot Athletes jogging
15. Close up, Perina walking
13 JULY 2024, ELDORET, KENYA
16. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Perina Nakang, Refugee Olympic Team member:
“I am running the 800 metres.”
17. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Perina Nakang, Refugee Olympic Team member:
“I won a high school scholarship because of athletics.”
18. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Perina Nakang, Refugee Olympic Team member:
“I never imagined I would make it to the Olympics.”
12 JULY 2024, ELDORET, KENYA
19. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Perina Nakang, Refugee Olympic Team member:
“I am running the 800 metres.”
20. Close shot, Perina walking
13 JULY 2024, ELDORET, KENYA
21. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Perina Nakang, Refugee Olympic Team member:
“I won a high school scholarship because of athletics. I never imagined I would make it to the
Olympics.”
12 JULY 2024, ELDORET, KENYA
22. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Perina Nakang, Refugee Olympic Team member:
“When we went for the Olympics trials, my best time was 2:12 so I hope to clock 2:10 at the
Olympics.”
23. Med shot, Perina and team stretching
24. Close up, Perina and teammates running
25. Med shot, Athletes training
26. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Perina Nakang, Refugee Olympic Team member:
“We train with the team like sisters and brothers. We train together, they are also happy that I’m taking part in the Olympics. When I go to the Olympics, I will try to aim for a personal best so my team can gain more recognition.”
27. Close up, Perina and athletes laughing
28. Med shot, Perina and athletes walking
29. Close up, Portrait of Perina
30. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Perina Nakang, Refugee Olympic Team member:
“My family fled because of war and came to Kenya.”
29 MAY 2024, KAKUMA, KENYA
31. Various shots, street scenes
13 JULY 2024, ELDORET, KENYA
32. Med shot, various shots of Perina and athlete jogging
12 JULY 2024, ELDORET, KENYA
33. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Perina Nakang, Refugee Olympic Team member:
“I am the first born in the family, the rest are still young. If I do well, I want to help my siblings through school and pay their fees.”
34. Med shot, Perina jogging
35. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Perina Nakang, Refugee Olympic Team member:
“I would like to move my mother from Kakuma camp and bring to Eldoret. I would buy her a property where she can live.”
13 JULY 2024, ELDORET, KENYA
36. Wide shot, cows crossing path, Perina and team running
12 JULY 2024, ELDORET, KENYA
37. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Perina Nakang, Refugee Olympic Team member:
“Now I am a runner. When I compete in the Olympics, my life will change. Now my life has improved. It’s not like it was before, now I feel alive.”
13 JULY 2024, ELDORET, KENYA
38. Med shot, Perina running at sunrise
12 JULY 2024, ELDORET, KENYA
39. Wide shot, various shots, athletes running during training
40. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Perina Nakang, Refugee Olympic Team member:
“When I take part in the Olympics, I will represent the Refugee Olympic Team.”
39. Wide shot, various athletes during training
14 JULY 2024, NAIROBI, KENYA
41. Med shot, Perina taking photos at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
42. Close up, back shot of Perina and her coach, Janeth Jepkosgei
12 JULY 2024, ELDORET, KENYA
43. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Perina Nakang, Refugee Olympic Team member:
“I am so happy. I thank God, he has brought me very far. I am very happy.”
14 JULY 2024, NAIROBI, KENYA
44. Med shot, Perina and Janeth posing for photos
45. Wide shot, Perina and Janeth hugging and waving UNHCR staff goodbye
Perina Nakang, a refugee athlete based in Kenya is part of the 37-strong IOC Refugee
Olympic Team competing in Paris. Perina, an 800-metre runner, was forced to flee by conflict when she was seven years old, to live in Kenya’s Kakuma camp. There, she discovered her love for sports. The 21-year-old says she will be chasing her personal best at the games.
Perina Nakang is on her final workout session before flying out to the 2024 Paris Olympics. The 21-year-old is will be taking part in the 37-strong IOC Refugee Olympic Team competing in Paris, where she hopes to clock her personal best in the 800 metres race.
Perina trains in Eldoret, in Kenya’s Rift Valley region, where athletes enjoy a perfect high-altitude environment. Every morning at 5 a.m. she runs alongside other elite Kenyan athletes including Mary Moraa and Faith Kipyegon for up to 20 kilometres. She says this has greatly improved her speed and endurance.
Perina was only 7 years old when her family fled war and found safety in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp. It was here that she discovered her love for sports, albeit unintentionally.
She first started playing football and basketball, which she enjoyed, but her friend encouraged her to switch to running.
Perina reached a turning point in 2022, when she came second in the women’s 100-meter race in Nairobi which was organised by Athletics Kenya. Her athletic career was boosted when she won a scholarship to attend the Shoe 4 Africa secondary school in Kenya’s Nandi county, about 350 kilometres from Nairobi, which was started by Kenyan long-distance runner and world record holder Mary Keitany. Perina is currently pursuing her High School education there.
Perina is training under the watchful eye of Janeth Jepkosgei, a Kenyan former Olympic world
champion. The Refugee Olympic Team will represent about 120 million forcibly displaced people worldwide.
This is the third time a refugee team is taking part in the Olympics, following their historic debut at the Rio 2016 Games.
In Paris, they will compete in 12 different sports, ranging from aquatics, athletics, badminton, and boxing to taekwondo and wrestling.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency has partnered with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Refuge Foundation to support refugees’ participation in the games and to promote the power of sports to bring hope to the lives of those forced to flee.
Perina hopes to inspire other young refugee athletes to chase their dreams. She also wants the
world to support refugees so that they can get a chance to develop their talents.
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