Tuvalu to send one-man team to Paris Olympics 2024

Previously known as the Ellice Islands, Tuvalu is a small island country with a population of around 11,000 people. Since their debut at the Summer Games, which came in the Beijing Olympics in 2008, they have sent a total of six athletes to the showpiece event. The athletes have mostly taken part in weightlifting and athletics but have never been able to win a medal.

This time out, at the Paris Olympics 2024, Tuvalu will send just one representative, in the form of sprinter Karalo Maibuca. Interestingly, Maibuca represented Tuvalu at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 as well.

Karalo Maibuca, who recently turned 25, doesn't train much in his country. Why? Because there is no proper running track present!

Athletes from Tuvalu use the airport runway in the capital Funafati and get themselves prepared for any competition they might participate in. Notably, most athletes who represented Tuvalu at the Oceania Athletics Championships earlier in this month, used this runway to finetune their preparations.

Melei Melei, who is the secretary general of the Tuvalu Olympics Committee, told AFP:

"It’s true we don’t have any track here for field events. If people come and train here, they run on the airfield. Without access to high-performance facilities, the challenge is to get our athletes up to that level."

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Who is Karalo Maibuca?

Like in Tokyo, Karalo Maibuca will be participating in the 100 metres event in Paris as well. In the last edition of the Games, he failed to get past the prelims after finishing last in the race but went on to script a new national record for Tuvalu.

In Tokyo three years back, Maibuca clocked a timing of 11.42 seconds in the men's 100 metres event. His timing was quite short of that of Italian sprinter Marcell Jacobs, who completed his race in just 9.80 seconds and went on to bag the gold medal for his country.