Minister of Sports Aurore Mimosa Munyangaju on Wednesday, July 3, officially flagged off a delegation of Rwandan athletes before departing for Paris, France, ahead of the much-anticipated Paris 2024 Olympic Games scheduled for July 26 to August 11.

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Rwanda will be represented by eight athletes, five women and three men, across four sports disciplines namely cycling, athletics, swimming, and fencing. The country will be making its debut in fencing at the Olympics.

The athletes will depart Kigali International Airport on Friday, July 5 Wednesday night and head to Courbevoie where they will spend to weeks for a pre-training camp after which they will the Olympic Village on July 23.

Flagging off the team, Munyangaju commended the National Olympic Committee and sports federations represented in Paris for their efforts in preparing the athletes.

The minister highlighted the significance of Rwanda&039;s first participation in fencing, emphasizing the need to develop a robust system to nurture more Olympians and increase the number of athletes representing the country in the sport in the future.

"It is a great step that, for the first time, Rwanda will compete in fencing. This gives us a task, as the Sports Sector, to establish a system that will help develop more Olympians, increasing the number beyond the eight athletes representing us in Paris 2024," Munyangaju said.

Team Rwanda to Paris 2024 Games

Cycling

Men: Eric Manizabayo (Road Race)

Women: Diane Ingabire (Road Race & ITT)

Jazilla Mwamikazi (Mountain Bike)

Coach: David Louvet

Athletics

Men: Yves Nimubona (10 000m)

Women: Clementine Mukandanga (Full Marathon 42km)

Coach: Eric Karasira

Swimming

Men: Peyre Mitilla Oscar Cyusa (Butterfly 100m)

Women: Lidwine Umuhoza Uwase (Freestyle 50m)

Coach: James Bazatsinda

Fencing

Women: Tufaha Uwihoreye

Coach: Emmanuel Kwizera