TeamRefugees: Rose Nathike Lokonyen

Until a year ago, Rose Nathike Lokonyen barely knew the talent she had. She had never competed, even as an amateur, after fleeing war in South Sudan when she was 10 years old. Then, during a school competition in the refugee camp in northern Kenya where she lives, a teacher suggested that she run a 10-kilometre race. "I had not been training. It was the first time for me to run, and I came number two," she says, smiling. "I was very surprised!"

Rose has since moved to a training camp near the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, where she is preparing to run the 800-metre event at the Olympics. "I will be very happy and I will just work hard and prove myself," she says. She sees athletics not only as an avenue to earning prize money and endorsements, but also as a way to inspire others. "I will be representing my people there at Rio, and maybe if I succeed I can come back and conduct a race that can promote peace, and bring people together."

She is still worried about injuries, however. "That is my main challenge," she says. Until recently, she was not training with professional running shoes, and had no professional guidance. She still seems surprised that, in little over a year, she has risen to this point. "I can do running as sport or, now I see, even as a career."

TeamRefugees: Rose Nathike Lokonyen