A battered velodrome, a borrowed bike: Nigeria’s Olympic track cyclist battles the odds in Paris

Nigerian Ese Ukpeseraye might have been dead last in the Paris Olympic Games track cycling qualifying event for women’s Individual Sprint on Friday, but considering she hadn’t trained on a velodrome for more than a year and was riding on a borrowed bike, her 200-metre flying lap was a more than respectable time – 11.652  seconds. It was a performance she hoped would inspire her country to invest in track cycling.

Ukpeseraye said she was so surprised by the time that she felt as happy as if she had won the race.