Kathleen Grace Noble who made history as the first Ugandan to compete in Olympic rowing, will retire from the sport at the end of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Noble, an Irish-Ugandan athlete, declared her decision after finishing second in the semi-final E/F 2 in the women’s single sculls on Monday, securing her place in the finals.

The 29-year-old rowed the 2000m distance in 8:38:70 minutes, trailing Algerian Nihed Benchadli, who won the race in 8:34:67 minutes, and ahead of Nicaragua’s Evidelia Jarquin Gonzalez, who finished in 8:43:78 minutes.

However, her hopes of winning a medal fell short after she finished second in the 2000m women’s single sculls classifications final E. Although she put up a spirited fight, posting a time of 7:56:10, she fell behind Algeria’s Nihed Benchadli, who clocked 7:54: 25.

In what was her final appearance at the Olympics, Noble finished 26th overall, equalling her impressive achievement at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“I am retiring,” Noble announced after the race before adding; “I want to move on new of life, I want to start a new life, I want to focus on my career, am very happy to wrap up the season and focus on something else,” she said.

She made her debut for Uganda at the 2016 World Rowing U-23 Championships in Rotterdam, Holland, and went on to represent her country at both the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2024 Paris Olympics.

She is celebrated as the first Ugandan to qualify for rowing at the Olympics in the Women’s Single Scull. She also holds Uganda’s best time in the 50m butterfly at the FINA World Swimming Championships, with a time of 30.80 seconds.