Nakaayi: Overcoming religious barriers to conquer the world

It is now six days since Halimah Nakaayi stunned the world to the 800m title at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in the humid Qatari capital. Securing her for interviews has not been easy but after a WhatsApp exchange, she agrees to meet.

“I am happy,” with a smile that could become her iconic trademark, she gets the chat underway, almost an hour after I met her at the athletes’ residence, Ezdan Hotel. Uganda’s only third world champion had moments earlier spoken to global broadcasters CGTN and BBC with Olympic Channel waiting. Despite being a hot cake, Nakaayi is not carried away by her new status in the global athletics arena.
“My life is not the same right now. I am the world champion but it won’t put me on pressure,” she humbly says.

Her career moment was when she exuded a commanding charge in the final 85m to land Uganda’s first-ever world title over the two-lap distance in a new national record time of 1:58.04 at the Khalifa International Stadium on Monday night.
Nakaayi however needed huge resilience to reach stardom. Running is in her family’s DNA. Her mother Rose Nagadya was a long-distance runner at primary school level.

“The moment she saw that I could do it, she told me about herself. People used to tell me that she was a good athlete.” But not her father! Nakaayi is from a strong Muslim background where girls wear veils and Hijabs yet during athletics, the body is exposed by the bibs.

“My father kept saying no body from our family had ever run. He was negative about athletics. He thought maybe I would not study because they had mentality that athletes do not study. But my grandfather Haj Hamis Kawanvu told him to give me a chance.”

Her talent was discovered in 2003 when a teacher called Higenyi at Najjembe Primary School in Mabira Village, Mukono District, took her for competitions and she beat everyone. In 2004, a one Ronald Kisawuzi picked interest in Nakaayi and took her to Mukono Children’s School for exposure. While there she would go to Namboole for national trials.

A teacher there, Peter Obonyo would give her hill work as training. “At first, I thought it was torture but he kept encouraging me,” she states with no regrets.
In 2005, a 10-year-old Nakaayi came second to the then country’s top sprinter Justine Bayigga in a 400m race.
“It motivated me,” Nakaayi, who makes 25 on October 14, memoirs.

Uganda Athletics Federation picked interest in her and she began travelling with older women to regional games for relays. In her Primary Seven vacation, Nakaayi won 800m silver at the East Africa Games in Rwanda.
To keep her active, Obonyo decided to take her to secondary schools that were active in sports. She was rejected by St Mary’s Kitende but headmaster Yakubu Mwesigwa accepted her at Bombo Secondary School in 2007.

Mwesigwa gave her a bursary and she would train with Uganda People’s Defence Force’s (UPDF) boxing teams and sometimes would go to Ndejje University for drills.
To balance her studies, Ferry Ssebuga, a teacher of mathematics offered her extra classes before her training sessions.

In 2011, Godfrey Nuwagaba, who had earlier discovered the talented Moses Kipsiro, Stephen Kiprotich and Benjamin Kiplagat, spotted Nakaayi and Annet Negesa. He rented rooms for the pair and paid for meals in Bweyogerere with coach Raphael Kasaija in charge.

Nakaayi won Commonwealth Youth 400m in Isle of Man while Negesa claimed 800m gold at the All-Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique. “That showed us that things are possible with hard work.” In her final year, UPDF celebrated 55 years with a marathon that was to be run in relay format from Luweero, to Wobulenzi, Bombo and finish in Kampala.

Returning from Burundi where she had won 400m and 800m titles at the East African Games, and months after featuring at World Juniors in Barcelona, Nakaayi almost lost her life in the road race.

“The person who started from Luweero town was in fifth place by the time she gave me the button,” she narrates.
“Bombo SS is on the main road and I knew everyone was waiting for me. I sprinted fast like it was 400m and people urged me. I reached Bombo with only one person ahead of me but the place I thought was the button handover spot was not. People were cheering me on but I was tired. I collapsed and my body turned yellowish”, she narates.

She was announced dead and news spread fast to her coaches and family as an ambulance rushed her to Bombo Military Hospital only to find she was in coma.
“When I regained conciousness, I could see people around me but could not lift my arms. I asked God to give me another chance,” Nakaayi describes her lowest life moment.

Thereafter, doctors and her parents asked her to quit the sport but she persisted, later securing Dutch manager Jurrie van der Velden and coach Addy Ruiter of Global Sports Communication.

The discouragements have not ceased. “So many people criticise me; for instance when we are training, the people we pass by during roadwork mock us saying, ‘Who are you chasing? Who is chasing you? You are woman, how can you lift your chest like that? ” she shares.
“But I want them to know that sports can change one’s life and that with God’s guidance, hard work pays. ,” she adds.

UGANDA’S MEDALS AT WORLDS

Date of birth: October 14, 1994
Major event: 800m
Club: Uganda Wildlife Authority
Personal Best: 1:58.04
Major Honours: 2011 Commonwealth Youth Gold (400m), 2019 African Games Bronze (800m), 2019 World Championship Gold (800m)
Coaches: Raphael Kasaija, Addy Ruiter
Manager: Jurrie van der Velden
UGANDA’S MEDALS AT WORLDS
Athens 1997: Davis Kamoga (Silver, 400m)
Helsinki 2005: Dorcus Inzikuru (Gold, 3000m SC)
Osaka 2007: Moses Kipsiro (Bronze, 5000m)
Moscow 2013: Stephen Kiprotich (Gold, Marathon)
Beijing 2015: Solomon Mutai (Bronze, Marathon)
London 2017: Joshua Cheptegei (Silver, 10000m)
Doha 2019: Halimah Nakaayi (Gold, 800m)