Three Timorese athletes have travelled to Rio after being selected to take part in the 2016 Olympic Games.
The athletes are cyclist Francelina ‘Anche’ Marques Cabral and marathon runners Augusto Ramos and Nelia Martins.
Cabral said she was excited to take part in the international event among top-level athletes.
“I am not expecting to win because this is a big event and it’s a first for us,” she said.
“It’s an honor for me to take a part and get the experience.”
Cabral, will compete in the cross country mountain bike, said the track will be fast and extreme.
She will become the first female Timorese cyclist to compete at Olympic level.
Cabral, who works full-time, has only limited time for training, which she does several mornings a week before going to her job.
During her preparations she faced many difficulties in terms of equipment and time because she lacked the funds for bike repairs and to buy special food needed for training.
She encouraged other talented female cyclists to train hard as there were many opportunities.
“I call on talented Timorese in cycling to focus, particularly in road bike, mountain bike and downhill bike, to continue training,” she said.
Cabral has had success at both international and national events.
She was the first Timorese woman to compete in the Tour de Timor in 2009 and made history when she won in 2013.
She also competed in the Asian Mountain Bike Championships in Thailand this year, as well as the Asian Mountain Bike Cup last year, held in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Timor-Leste, winning a bronze and placing first in the downhill.
More than 10,500 athletes from 206 countries will take part in the Rio games across 28 sporting disciplines.
General-Secretary of the Athletics Federation Filomena Reis said the marathon athletes had been preparing in the lead up to the Olympic Games and were ready to participate.
However, she said the federation also faced many difficulties and had a limited capacity to train athletes.
“We are talking about an international event, we can only improve our record because the athletes from other countries have sport centers to prepare their athletes in terms of nutrition, but we don’t have [this],” she said.
She said while the federation provided some assistance, it was often necessary for athletes to stay at their coach’s home when they are training for competitions.
However, she said both runners had been performing well and had a good record at national level.
It is the second time for Timor-Leste has been represented in the 42km marathon event, the first was in 2012.
The Games will be held from August 5-21.
