Ongare is the second Kenyan boxer to qualify for the Olympic games, according to local media. Nick Okoth was the first. But it's not her first medal. In 2018, she won Kenya's only boxing medal at the Commonwealth Games.She has done it! Dream come true for Christine Ongare 🇰🇪 as she seals #TokyoOlympics slot after a Box-Off win over Ugandan Catherine Nanziri in women's flyweight at Africa Boxing Olympic Qualification in Dakar. #RoadtoTokyo2020 #TeamKenya #HitSquad pic.twitter.com/wKiiM4M2T6
— National Olympic Committee - Kenya (@OlympicsKe) February 29, 2020
'I fell pregnant when I was 12 years old'
Despite Ongare's many wins, she says becoming a household name in boxing has been challenging. She told the Olympic Channel in an interview that due to peer pressure, she got pregnant when she was just 12 years old."I have gone through a tough life, so hard. It's just that I don't like talking about it. I fell pregnant when I was 12 years old. So, my mum took the responsibility of raising my child. I was a small child. It was just peer pressure, to try something and then it ruins you," she said in the video. Her mother, also a single mother, struggled to pay bills and her school fees. She tried out sports like football and acrobatics, until boxing eventually became her lifeline. "Boxing is all I have ... It is said that when you fall you must rise up again. That's how I rose and met good coaches, they gave me motivation until I have come this far," Ongare said. Many girls like Ongare in rural Kenya face teenage pregnancy. According to a 2018 report in the International Journal of adolescence and youth, in the next 20 years, 2.3 million girls in western Kenya are projected to get pregnant before the age of 18.She has done it! Dream come true for Christine Ongare 🇰🇪 as she seals #TokyoOlympics slot after a Box-Off win over Ugandan Catherine Nanziri in women's flyweight at Africa Boxing Olympic Qualification in Dakar. #RoadtoTokyo2020 #TeamKenya #HitSquad pic.twitter.com/wKiiM4M2T6
— National Olympic Committee - Kenya (@OlympicsKe) February 29, 2020
Preparing for the Olympics
Before Ongare qualified for the Olympics, she told the Olympic Channel that sealing a place at the games would create opportunities for her to excel.DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
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