Olympic Tibetans

By Dorji Kyi / July 25, 2016;

Choeyang Kyi

Two Tibetan athletes, Choeyang Kyi, 26, a race walker and Topgyal, 22, a marathon runner, will take part in the 2016 Olympic from August 5 to 21 in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. These two individuals are participating in two different events to represent the People’s Republic of China.

Choeyang Kyi, who is also the first Tibetan woman to take part and win a medal in the Olympics, was born in Tsochang, Amdo (in Eastern Tibet). She won the bronze medal in 2012 London Olympic Games in race walking but was later announced as the silver medalist when the Russian athlete Olga Kaniskina, who won the silver medal in the race,was disqualified following a failed drug test.

When she won the medal, the Associated Press quoted Choeyang Kyi as saying, “I’m extremely honored to take part as the first representative of the Tibetans at the Olympic Games and to win a medal,”

Topgyal

The middle distance runner Topgyal was born in Dagze County in Tibet’s capital city Lhasa. Even though this will be his first Olympics, he has taken part in many international and domestic games since 2012, winning many medals, according to the Chinese Tibet news website. The same website mentions that Tobgye’s participation in the Olympic Games not only shows that Tibet’s competitive sports level has been improved, but also demonstrates to the world that Tibet has gained great achievements in social and economic development.

According to China’s news website www.zxxw.com, a Tibetan archer named Dorjee Choeying was the first ever Tibetan to take part in the Olympics. He represented China in 1988 at Soul, South Korea.

“May of the Tibetans in exile have a mixed feeling about the participation of these Tibetans in the Olympics as they are representing China” said Dorjee, a Tibetan living in Dharamsala, India. “We are proud of them and their achievements but it is incredibly sad that they are not able to represent Tibet”, he added.

Even though Tibetans are not known to be great athletes, we have traditional sports including horse racing, archery, rope pulling, running and stone lifting, which all encourage Tibetans to be healthy and strong.