Bwire hopes to cycle to gold at Tokyo Deaflympics

Kenya women's deaf cycling champion Brenda Bwire after bagging gold at the Jubilee Insurance Grand Nairobi Bike Race on Sunday. [KSFD] After bagging gold in Turkey triathlon championship in 2021, Brenda Bwire is out to strike gold again at the global stage. The former Africa deaf triathlon champion will be flying the country's flag in cycling at the forthcoming Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics on November 15-26. Bwire is among the two cyclists, alongside Simon Njoroge, who punched their tickets to the Tokyo Summer Games after intense trials held at Kasarani Stadium in August. She gauged her prowess at the Nairobi Bike Race on Sunday and floored a large field to bag gold in the women's deaf category. "Winning this race today, and emerging champion in Turkey and Egypt (Africa championship) four years ago are proof enough that returning home with a medal from Tokyo is possible," Bwire told Standard Sports. "Today, my target was a podium finish and I have achieved that by striking gold. I am very ready for he competition in Japan," she declared, adding: "I have always trained hard and I will continue to do so until when we go to Tokyo." "I don't want to make history for myself but for the whole nation as well and that is the reason I'm working hard to win that gold in Japan," Bwire, who will be making her debut at the Deaflympics said. The 33-year-old trains every day on various streets of Nairobi as she gears up for the Deaflympics contest. Her daily preparations involve long distance pedaling, endurance workouts, gym work, diet and nutrition. "Sometimes, some battles are won in the mind, that's why I'm also working and training my mind on my mental toughness, I need to be really focused to win that gold," she said. Bwire encounters various challenges with her preparations for races, among them the lack of state-of-the-art equipment, limited sponsors and inadequate security on the roads while training alone. "Unlike the hearing people, it's hard for deaf people to exercise alone, we always need to have company around us, for example we need interpreters and those who could help out with the signs on the road. "There is always a lot of confusion about which routes to use. We are always getting stuck and when training there is a lot of confusion on the road. Sometimes we don't have someone guiding us. It is easy for the hearing people to know but for us it is a bit hard," she said. This year's Deaflympics will mark the first time that Kenya is competing in cycling at the quadrennial games and Bwire reckons that being among the first two Kenyans to race at the Summer Games is a "great honour". "I am very much relieved that I will be going to Japan, I hope to make the moments even more memorable by winning a medal over there," she said. Bwire started cycling at 14 in Mombasa and has never looked back since then. Initially, she cycled just for recreational purposes but after her interest grew, she joined cycling groups before embracing the sport while studying at the National Industrial Training Authority at the coastal town. "I was just riding for leisure, then later on I joined groups and started thinking about taking cycling seriously. When I joined school, I felt motivated to do it as a sport. "My mother started supporting me and ever since I have been cycling with my hearing colleagues," she said. In 2021, she clinched a gold medal in a triathlon competition held in Turkey where she was the only athlete in the championships with hearing challenges. Kenya Deaf Cycling team head coach Steve Odongo has thanked the government for supporting the team ahead of Tokyo. Odongo said his charges are ready for the competition: "We thank the State for giving us support so that we can go to the Deaflympics. We feel that we are very ready for it. We have prepared well and we are promising Kenyans to return home with the glittering gold medals."

Bwire hopes to cycle to gold at Tokyo Deaflympics

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Bwire hopes to cycle to gold at Tokyo Deaflympics

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