Paris Olympic Games welcomes record number of African riders in women's cycling

Jazilla Mwamikazi, Diane Ingabire, and Xaveline Nirere of Rwanda ahead of the elite/under-23 women's road race at the 2023 Glasgow World Championships (Image credit: Getty Images)

When the competitors line up at the start of the women’s elite road race at the Paris Olympic Games on August 4, it will be 40 years since the first-ever event took place in Los Angeles in 1984.

History will be made at these Games, too, because for the first time, there will be equal numbers of male and female competitors – 90 riders in each road race.

Certain countries like Rwanda and Burkina Faso have developed a training structure. Organisations such as Team Africa Rising have been instrumental in helping women to gain access to training and development possibilities, and the UCI training and development facilities in South Africa, as well as at the World Cycling Centre in Aigle, Switzerland, have provided the launch pad for talent-spotted riders with potential, a few of whom have gained contracts with European teams.

“My first international competition was at the Road Race World Championships in Glasgow last year. That was so scary. I couldn’t believe I was there and was so overwhelmed. I was thinking, ‘Wow, is this for real?’ I’m not scared anymore. To be frank, in Paris, I just want to finish the race. Nobody who goes to a race doesn’t want to win, but I know cycling is not an easy sport, so I will try my best to be in a good position and stay with the group.”

“We would use bikes to go to the farm and to fetch water. Then somebody from my village saw me and said, ‘You could be a cyclist’, and I said, ‘What is cycling?’. I was at school thanks to a running scholarship. I didn’t know anything about cycle racing, but I decided to have a go at it. At the start, it was somewhat stressful for me because the road bike was very different from my home bike and very uncomfortable. But after one month, and with encouragement from my mum, before I lost her, I was able to do it.”

“People said things to make me feel discouraged. They said, ‘What is cycling? Go and look for a proper job. Cycling is not something that you have to do! Cycling will make you look like a man; you will have crashes and hurt your body.' Parents are worried about all the cars and think cyclists may be killed. I think that if a child would really like to do cycling, their parents should give them support.”