Christine Ongare's journey to the Olympics has surely been a remarkable one. Standing at 1.57 metres (5ft 2ins) and weighing 51 kilograms (112 pounds), Ongare cut a diminutive figure growing up in Eastlands, one of Nairobi's rougher areas. For the 27 year old, life was not easy growing up in such an unforgiving environment. Ongare said girls would be physically and sexually abused, and she had to learn from a young age to fend for herself."I am the last born, we are four siblings. The rest were not around, so that made me be more tough, because I had no one to defend me," she said.
At 12, she fell pregnant with her son Maxwell, a chapter of her life she isn't as comfortable discussing. The infant boy was raised by Ongare's mother, who took on the responsibility so her daughter could return to school.
As a teenager, she tried football and gymnastics but it was discovering boxing that sent her life in a different direction."The sport gave Ongare a newfound 'resilience' and helped her cope with the troubles at home," said Benjamin Musa, head coach of Kenya's Olympic boxing squad also known as the Hit Squad.
Ongare was first introduced to boxing through BoxGirls Kenya, an association in Eastlands that helps empower young girls through gloves and sparring. Its founder, and Ongare's first coach, Alfred Analo Anjere, remembered a hard-working and punctual student: "She is a dedicated boxer," he said. As years moved by, Ongare began taking the sport more seriously in her late teens and in 2012 competed in her first world championship.
Eight years later, at the age of 26, Ongare earned her ticket to Tokyo, finishing third in the African qualifying tournament in the flyweight division. It has truly been a life's ambition for Ongare, who cannot imagine what direction her life would have taken without boxing.