With a personal record of 100 meters in 11.76 seconds, Gabon’s Davy Moukagni has every reason to dream of mounting the podium at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo in August.
But lacking funding from the government and sponsors, the 28-year-old sprinter has to train on a neglected, grassy high-school track riddled with sharp stones.
The lane lines on the track have been all but erased by the passage of time and other feet.
But these are problems that the young athlete and his two team mates are sadly used to.
“The first time I used starting blocks was in an official competition,” Moukagni says. “I was all disoriented.”
At the Owendo stadium, some 10 kilometers (six miles) from the capi…
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