Rose Lokonyen

thumb|Rose Lokonyen Rose Nathike Lokonyen (born 24 February 1995) is a track and field athlete from South Sudan, who has later lived and trained in Kenya. Quotes Sport has that power to change a life. Especially for refugees. We have so many nationalities but we don’t think, ‘this person is from this country, this person is from that country,’ we stay as brothers and sisters,There is a great peace among us. The other tribe came at night to attack our village, our houses and some of my neighbours lost their lives because they couldn’t escape, I lost some of my friends, I and my parents and some other neighbours managed to escape that night to a nearby town, walking in the bushes for two days. I call it home, We faced a lot of challenges but it’s a safe place. As long as you have that, you feel safe. We had to start a new life. I didn’t know that talent could take me anywhere, I just loved sport. All the countries, including the president, were cheering for the refugees, (I thought), 'if the world loves us then we can give hope to other refugees'. Interacting with other nationalities around the world was a great experience. We (had) to go back to the refugee town, all the camps in Nairobi were closed due to Covid-19, But we did not lose hope. In life you have to overcome all the challenges. The pandemic affected the entire world and it could not stop me from doing what I love. Now that I got the chance to study, I have to give back to the community because you cannot run the whole of your life, I can come back and give to the communities, especially the young refugees. My hope is just to try my best, to improve on my time. Sport has the power to create hope among other nationalities and it also unites people, Now we have 29 in the refugee team for Tokyo and we thank the president of IOC for allowing us the chance to participate. The 29 of us will give a message of hope to refugees. We are not going there to represent only ourselves, but the entire refugee community around the world. We need more people for 2024. All the refugees have talent and they have to be given that opportunity to participate, especially the young generations. We have opened the way for them. Lokonyen: "We can give hope to other refugees", June 16 2021 I had not been training. It was the first time for me to run and I came number two, I was very suprised! From helplessness to hope: inspirational tales of the Refugee Olympic Team, August 05 2016 I feel very excited. This is the first chance for the refugees to participate in the Olympics and to give us hope, for us to encourage the young generations of fellow refugees who are remaining in the camps maybe to continue their talent. Refugee athletes set to leave for Rio Olympics and history, July 28 2016 External links Category:1995 births Category:Sportspeople from South Sudan Category:Track and field athletes Category:Living people Category:Women from South Sudan Category:Women in sports Category:Women born in the 1990s