Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | Pamela Girimbabazi Rugabira |
Nationality | ![]() |
Born | Central African Republic | January 10, 1985
Sport | |
Sport | Swimming |
Pamela Girimbabazi Rugabira, [1] born 10 January 1985, [2] is an Olympic swimmer from Rwanda. She swam for Rwanda at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympics; and was the country's flagbearer in 2008.
During that time, she "never had a formal swim lesson or regular coach". [3] She was disqualified during the Sydney Games due to technical rules that she was unaware of, and subsequently taught herself the rules by consulting the Internet. Later, she also taught herself from a book about swimming belonging to fellow Rwandan swimmer Jackson Niyomugabo. She trained in a hotel pool 25 metres in length. Her personal best in the 50 metre freestyle prior to the Beijing Olympics was 35 seconds. [4] She failed to improve on that time in Beijing, finishing third out of four in her heat, and 88th overall, [5] with a time of 39:78. [6]
Girimbabazi has been described as a "minor celebrity" and "an icon of pure sport spirit, an athlete who competes for the love of the game, not for the thrill of victory or the fame and riches that might follow". [7]
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Roshendra Julienne Mercedes Vrolijk is an Aruban former swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events. She is one of Aruba's first Olympic swimmers, alongside Davy Bisslik, and also a two-time Olympian.
Nayana Shakya is a Nepalese former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. Shakya qualified for the women's 100 m breaststroke at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, by receiving a Universality place from FINA, in an entry time of 1:34.99. She challenged seven other swimmers in heat one, including Bolivia's Katerine Moreno, who competed at her third Olympics since 1988. She posted a lifetime best of 1:32.92 to edge out Rwanda's Pamela Girimbabazi for a seventh seed by nearly 18 seconds. Shakya failed to advance into the semifinals, as she placed forty-seventh overall in the preliminaries.
Balkissa Ouhoumoudou is a Nigerien former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. Ouhoumoudou competed only in the women's 100 m breaststroke at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. She received a ticket from FINA, under a Universality program, without meeting an entry time. She participated in heat one against three other swimmers Mariam Pauline Keita of Mali, 14-year-old Doli Akhter of Bangladesh, and Pamela Girimbabazi of Rwanda. With one swimmer casting out of the race for a no false-start rule (Akhter), and the other for an illegal turn (Girimbabazi), Ouhoumoudou raced to the second seed in a time of 1:42.39, the slowest ever in the heats. Ouhoumoudou failed to advance into the semifinals, as she placed forty-first overall in the prelims.
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