What it’s like to be your country’s only Olympian

As the one athlete despatched by his nation to the Olympics in Paris, sprinter Shaun Gill has been revelling in his short-term standing as “probably the most well-known man” in Belize.

He’s one in every of 4 athletes despatched to the 2024 Video games as their nations’ sole consultant. It’s a accountability that brings delight – and a few further anxiousness.

Solo opponents instructed the BBC their jobs could possibly be lonely, however being their nation’s default flagbearer through the opening ceremony had been exhilarating.

On account of Gill’s sudden superstar, others within the athletes’ village have been chasing his autograph, the 31-year-old instructed the BBC.

“I had a joke with one in every of my pals that I might have a safety element,” he laughed.

The bigger Olympic delegations – corresponding to these despatched by the US and the UK – are ready to decide on their flagbearers from teams of a whole bunch of athletes.

However Belize, a Central American nation with a inhabitants of lower than half 1,000,000, had just one candidate – as did Liechtenstein, Nauru and Somalia.

Gill waved his nation’s flag with all of the patriotic zeal he may muster, as he and different athletes paraded alongside the River Seine in boats. He went viral for his impassioned efforts within the driving rain.

Carrying the hopes of a nation was pressurising, Gill admitted. He didn’t advance to the lads’s 100m remaining, and mirrored that jet lag had left him unable to run as quick as he hoped.

“When the efficiency is missing, I’m like, ‘Man, I hope I didn’t make you all dissatisfied,’” he mentioned.

Somalian runner Ali Idow Hassan is hoping that he manages to do what Gill didn’t: make it to the medals podium within the Stade de France.

If Hassan is quick sufficient within the males’s 800m on Wednesday, he’ll advance to the semi-finals.

In any other case, the Olympic medal hopes of the east African nation might be over in little greater than 100 seconds: the time it should take for Hassan and his rivals to sprint across the monitor.

A number of the world’s smaller nations profit from universality guidelines which are designed to make sure a various illustration of nations through the sporting contest.

Hassan, 26, instructed the BBC he was “very glad” to be his nation’s solitary envoy at Paris 2024, however admitted there was a flipside: “I really feel very unhappy once I’m alone.”

However Hassan has befriended athletes from different African international locations. The expertise of staying within the athletes’ village had been much less isolating than may be anticipated, the opponents agreed.

Romano Püntener, a mountain-biker who represented Liechtenstein on his personal, was hunted down within the compound by none apart from Andy Murray.

The tennis ace wished to swap pin-badges with Püntener, realizing that one from Liechtenstein was a rarity. The badges are often traded by athletes touring the worldwide circuit.

Liechtenstein is a small, land-locked nation between Austria and Switzerland, with a inhabitants of 38,000 individuals. Prime-level athletes have been few and much between.

The Olympics had been “unforgettable” for Püntener, who mentioned he had loved the sheer funding he had obtained as his nation’s solely hope on the 2024 Video games.

“It solely helped me,” Püntener mirrored. “We may actually construct the entire group round me, and I may determine who I wished to have with me – and who not.”

The 20-year-old completed twenty eighth in final week’s race, his Olympic debut. However since he was not anticipated to win a medal, he had been capable of get pleasure from himself, and cherish the assist of the 20 or 30 compatriots who turned out to cheer him on. Amongst them was the nation’s prime minister.

However in a digital age, a deluge of assist is able to changing into a distraction when the sportsmen need to deal with delivering for his or her international locations.

“It felt like I obtained a message from each particular person dwelling in Liechtenstein,” mentioned Püntener.

Gill mentioned he had obtained “1000’s” of well-wishes. “My telephone freezes, my Instagram freezes,” he mentioned. “I needed to flip it off at one level as a result of I couldn’t actually have a second of peace to myself… I do respect it, however I suppose I needed to simply learn to handle it actual fast.”

Regardless of the massive assist they might have obtained, the solitary opponents are operating in opposition to the percentages in some ways.

Winzar Kakiouea competed within the males’s 100m race for Nauru, an island within the Pacific that’s the world’s smallest republic and closely reliant on support.

He instructed the New York Occasions many individuals he met had not heard of his nation (inhabitants: 11,000), which didn’t actually have a correct race monitor, solely a “grime oval”.

When the Video games are over, and the highlight strikes on to one thing else, these opponents will return to lives which will look very totally different to these lived by the world’s sporting megastars.

Gill has chosen to retire from massive races and can now deal with coaching the following technology of runners in Belize, in addition to his personal future profession as an engineer.

Püntener will return to his residence in Schaan, within the mountains of Liechtenstein, which is ideal for cross-country biking. “For me, it seems like a giant city,” he mentioned.

Hassan will return to coaching in Ethiopia, although he hopes someday he’ll stay once more in his start metropolis of Mogadishu.

Talking on the eve of the lads’s 800m contest, he was hopeful that enhancements in Somalia’s safety state of affairs may imply extra delegates being despatched to future Olympics.

Somalia has a inhabitants of 17 million, however has been beset by a civil warfare for many years.

“Someday, there might be extra athletes,” Nassan predicted. “Ten athletes, 100 athletes might be right here.”