{"id":12348,"date":"2012-07-12T12:30:38","date_gmt":"2012-07-12T10:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/07\/olympics-rwandan-mountain-bikers-rocky-ride-to-london\/"},"modified":"2012-07-12T12:30:38","modified_gmt":"2012-07-12T10:30:38","slug":"olympics-rwandan-mountain-bikers-rocky-ride-to-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/olympics-rwandan-mountain-bikers-rocky-ride-to-london\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympics-Rwandan mountain biker’s rocky ride to London"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

By Jenny Clover<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

KIGALI, July 12<\/span> (Reuters) – Adrien Niyonshuti’s memories of
\nRwanda’s genocide are hazy, but when he needs to shut off his
\nmind and forget the slaughter that killed six of his brothers he
\njumps on his bike.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The small-framed 25-year-old is readying to become the east
\nAfrican country’s first Olympic mountain biker, honoured with
\ncarrying the national flag at the opening ceremony of the London
\nGames.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“When I ride my bike, there’s no one who can stop me or ask
\nme anything so things are really good,” Niyonshuti told Reuters
\nin the Rwandan capital, Kigali. “Riding gives me an opportunity
\nto help forget the things that happened in 1994.”<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Niyonshuti and his infectious grin are becoming increasingly
\nwell known in the city. As he cycles through the streets he is
\nrepeatedly called out to by well-wishers.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

It was his uncle who inspired Niyonshuti as a youngster.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“Even though he wasn’t professional, my uncle was a champion
\nin Rwanda for many years and everyone in this country knows
\nhim.”<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Aged 14, his uncle took him to watch the Tour de Rwanda race
\nthrough his home town.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“I said to my uncle: ‘I want to be like those guys one day’.
\nHe said ‘Yeah? You can be’.”
\n\u00a0 Continued…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jenny Clover KIGALI, July 12 (Reuters) – Adrien Niyonshuti’s memories of Rwanda’s genocide are hazy, but when he needs to shut off his mind and forget the slaughter that killed six of his brothers he jumps on his bike. The small-framed 25-year-old is readying to become the east African country’s first Olympic mountain biker, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-12348","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12348\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}