Recently, the Uganda Athletics Federation (UAF) announced a team of 20 athletes who have qualified to represent the country at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. More than 10,000 top athletes from around the world will take part in the Games slated for July 26 to August 11 in France.

Announcing the track and field squad, Uganda Athletics Foundation President Dominic Otuchet said the team is dominated by experienced athletes who have what it takes to win medals for the country.

“We have athletes who have been proven and tested at the big stage,” he said.

The team has 10 male and 10 female athletes, with another two, Belinda Chemutai and Loice Chekwemoi, on the waiting list.

Winnie Nanyondo (1500m)

Nanyondo will represent Uganda in the1500m. She has represented Uganda in several important international events, including both the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, among others. At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, she did not advance out of the first round of the 800-metre, finishing sixth in heat five, in a time of 2:02.77.

However, she improved her personal best at 1500 metres in Kawasaki, Japan, in May 2015, finishing the race in 4:17.13.

Peruth Chemutai (3000m steeplechase)

Peruth Chemutai is one of Uganda’s greatest hopes for success in Paris.  She became the first Ugandan woman to win an Olympic medal when she triumphed in the 3000m steeplechase at Tokyo 2020, running a time of 9:01.45.

Chemutai hails from the Bukwo District and started running in 2013. Two years later, at the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games in Apia, Samoa, she won silver medals in the 1500m and 3000m. 

The following year, at age 17, she finished in seventh place in the final of the women’s 3000m steeplechase event at the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships held in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

The teenager was part of Uganda’s 2016 Olympic team but was unable to qualify for the finals of the 3000-meter steeplechase in Rio de Janeiro. Yet five years later in Japan, 22-year-old Chemutai was the class of the field and made history by claiming the gold medal.

5000m women

In the 5000 metres, Uganda will be represented by Belinda Chemutai, Esther Chebet and Joy Cheptoyek.

Esther Chebet finished fifth at the 2019 African Games in the 1500m. At the 2019 World Cross Country Championships held in Aarhus, Denmark, she finished fourteenth in the senior race and won a bronze medal in the team competition.

Her personal best times are 2:03.28 minutes in the 800 metres, achieved in July 2016 in Kampala; 4:02.90 minutes in the 1500 metres, achieved in May 2019 in Nanjing; and 4:28.16 minutes in the mile run, achieved in July 2017 in Lausanne.

In June 2021, she qualified to represent Uganda at the 2020 Summer Olympics (which took place a year later due to the Covid pandemic)

In June 2023, Joy Cheptoyek ran a 10,000-metre personal best in Hengelo, recording a time of 32:09.52. The following month, she ran a new personal best time of 15:24.88 for the 5000 metres, in Nairobi.

In November 2023, she finished sixth over 5km at the World Road Running Championships in Riga, in a Ugandan national record of 14:50.

Sarah Chelengat (10,000m)

Sarah Chelangat is a Ugandan track and field athlete who specialises in long-distance running. She represented Uganda at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, competing in women’s 5000 metres.

She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics but had shin and knee injuries that kept her off the track for most of 2021. She also did not do much at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

In 2024, she set a Ugandan national record for the 10,000m at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene with a time of 30:24.04.

Uganda will also be represented in the 10,000 metres by Annet Chemengich Chelengat,

Stella Chesang (marathon)

Stella Chesang (born 1 December 1996) is a Ugandan long-distance runner. She won the gold medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Chesang earned bronze for the 5000 metres at the 2015 African Under-20 Championships. She represented Uganda at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She is the Ugandan record holder for the 10,000 m and half marathon.

She won the World Mountain Running Championships in 2015 and the Ugandan Cross Country Championships in 2016.

In the marathon, Uganda will also be represented by Rebecca Cheptegei and Mercyline Chelangat.

Grace Kathleen Noble (Rowing)

Kathleen Grace Noble is an Irish Ugandan rower. She is recognized as the first Ugandan to qualify for rowing at the Olympics in the Women’s Single Scull. She is also recognized as having achieved Uganda’s best time so far (30.80 seconds) in the 50m butterfly at the FINA World Swimming Championships. According to a Ugandan sports website, Kawowo Sports, Noble’s maiden rowing championship for Uganda was during the 2016 World Rowing U-23 event held in Rotterdam, Holland.

Gloria Muzito (swimming)

Gloria Muzito represented Uganda at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar. She also represented Sweden between 2014 and 2022 and was a part of the Swedish national junior swim team notably participating at the 2016 European Junior Swimming Championships and the 2017 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival where alongside Robin Hanson, she was able to win a bronze medal in the mixed relay.

She is also a part of the Florida State University’s swim team under its sports collective, The Florida State Seminoles^. Muzito was part of the Dolphins Swim Club in Kampala as well as Sundsvall Simsällskap in Sweden.