L. MathekaTOKYO 2020: I want to make Kenya proud - Danillo
Reading Time: 2min | Sun. 25.07.21. | 20:11
Only two swimmers are representing Kenya at the Tokyo Games, the second being Emily Muteti.
Kenyan swimmer Danilo Rosafio will be inaction on Tuesday, 27 July in the men's 100m freestyle heat two and as action nears, the 19-year old says he is ready to make his country proud.
The youngster has been training in the United Kingdom (UK) under coach Fakry Mansoor at the Loughborough University. He flew from Heathrow to Tokyo five days ago to join the rest of Team Kenya at the athletes' village.
“It was a long flight from Heathrow, just one way, no stops. At Narita (Tokyo Airport) the procedures took long, but I’m glad I made it. I am here. Training has been good. Back in England, I felt strong, even with the jetlag, I still felt strong on arrival. Hopefully I will still feel strong during my event," said the swimmer.
A month ago, he won bronze at the Porto 2021 International Meeting, clocking 23.52 seconds in the 50m freestyle to improve his previous personal best of 23.71 in the race won by Portugal’s Diogo Matos with a time of 22.93 seconds. Fernando Souza clocked 23.50 seconds for the silver.
In 100m free, Rosafio also settled for the bronze after clocking 52.22 in the race won by Diogo with a time of 50.31 while Souza settled for the second position with a time of 51.15 seconds.
"We all have expectations and I had mine of qualifyingfor the Olympics. I had my competitors and they werw also training hard, but at the end of the day, the one with the biggest heart is the one that goes through and makes it. It was a tough journey, there were doubts but I’m glad I qualified,"
"I was told that I had qualified and then a month to the Olympics I was told that now it is baseline, whoever makes a good time in the next meet, makes it. And that time I was in Portugal, so that really put pressure on me but I managed to contain it and secure the place," he revealed.
As he makes his debut at the Summer Games, the Mombasa swimmer says he will make the most of his chance in Tokyo.
“I have the same targets as when I go into any meet. I have come to improve my time, make the most of my time here, learn from the experiences and hopefully make my country proud. That’s what I want to do,” he conlcuded.
