Kathleen: From swimming prodigy to mastering oars

Kathleen Grace Noble should be returning home from Tokyo as Uganda’s first rower at the Olympics. But the Coronavirus pandemic put her dream off till July 2021.
She utilises this time to balance between her flexible job as a biologist in Utah – USA and training.

“I keep thinking the Games could still be cancelled altogether and that would hurt badly given all this effort,” she shares from her base, where training has resumed after four months in lockdown.
Much as this conversation is conducted via a WhatsApp call, the hearty laugh in between some questions and her answers is unmistakable.

“Some preparation events have already been cancelled and we don’t know how many more will go.”
Being around teammates helps her focus even though they have to minimise contact by rowing separately in single boats and “disinfecting them with ethanol after every session.”

Kathleen trains three hours, six days-a-week. That could double in due course. For someone, who never set out to be a rower till she was 19, her dedication is catching. Kathlene’s first love was swimming, which she learnt at three.

She was born on December 20, 1994 in Kiwoko Hospital - Luwero, where her father Gerry Noble worked as a missionary doctor having almost just moved from Ireland with his wife Moira.

Kathleen began competing in school (Kabira International) at five.
She represented Uganda at the 2012 Short Course World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey where she made national records in 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly.

First cut, not the deepest
Her freestyle record (29.22) was better than times managed by Olympians Aya Nakitanda (29.71) and Jamila Lunkuse (29.34) when they went to the 2008 and 2010 editions respectively.
Her 50m fly time (30.80) is till Uganda’s best at this competition.
She also played volleyball, representing International School of Uganda in the ISSEA (International Schools of South and East Africa) competitions from 2009 to 2012.
Her swimming career ended after secondary school. Kathleen moved to Princeton University in New Jersey - USA, where she discovered rowing through her roommate Katie Mirabella, in 2014.
“There is hardly any outdoor swimming in USA and I also don’t like the chemicals in the pool so it was hard for me to continue.
I also didn’t see much of my roommate yet she seemed to enjoy rowing a lot. When she invited me, I was open to being outside on the water again.”
Princeton’s competitive program allowed her to grow quickly in their lightweight women’s crew.
She pushed herself hard – rowing three hours a day – to master the craft.

At the end of that year she rowed in the Varsity Eight, a premiere competition, at the US Collegiate Nationals. This competition usually attracts highly experienced rowers rather than novices in their formative year.
In October 2014, six months into her rowing journey, Ugandan coach Rodrick Muhumuza, learnt about her during a visit to USA’s rowing headquarters in Princeton.

Uganda comes calling
He asked her to represent Uganda but she felt the conversation was premature since she had never rowed in a single boat. She, however, took a semester off the next year to train with the Ugandan team in preparation for the 2016 World Championships. Rowing in Uganda comes with its own challenges like lack of equipment and dedicated programs among others. But watching the likes of William Mwanga, Douglas Kisarale, Arnold Omony and Raymond Adiga among others work through the challenges spurred her on.

“I grew up in Uganda so I had no major expectations because I knew the facilities are not what I was using in Princeton. I just wanted to work with my teammates,” she recounts.
During this time, she trained at Kisubi Beach with Mwanga as her coach. Mwanga recruited her to Maroons Aqua Sports Club, where she learned to row in a single boat.

“He (Mwanga) brought dedication to my game. He would move from Luzira to Kisubi – about one and half hours – everyday to coach me.
He was never paid and that continued perseverance rubbed off on me,” Kathleen says.
She went on to row four times at the 2016 U23 World Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands – bettering her times in all events. Her final race was 17 seconds faster than her first.
Relaunch
After her university, she nearly quit competitive sport again as she moved to Utah for work.
She did not row for a year but the sport had fallen for her. Muhumuza came calling again in early 2019 ahead of Africa’s Olympic qualifiers.

This time, the problem was that Utah is a mountainous desert state famous for skiing and mountain biking.
Kathleen did not even know if anyone rowed there but her search led her to a secondary school team – Utah Crew.
She reached out to coach Linda Iqbal, who welcomed her to “the family I would never have had here.”

She trained with them for three months leading up to the Olympic qualifiers in Tunis in October 2019. She made the Olympic grade after winning the single scull B-final of the two kilometre regatta, ahead of Togo and Nigeria, in eight minutes and 36 seconds.

“People ask if I expect a medal (in Tokyo) and I do not understand why. “It is unrealistic, I am not even close, I just want to be competitive and get as close as possible to rowers from top African countries,” she says.
“I hope that my qualification will bring more attention to the sport renewed excitement to Ugandan rowers.
“Many of them have been discouraged already.”

After the Olympics, Kathleen intends to retire “to give others a chance” but instead of keeping away this time, she will seek to serve in a coaching capacity.

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AT A GLANCE

Name: Kathleen Grace Noble

Parents: Gerry and Moira Noble

Date of Birth: Dec 20, 1994

Age: 25

Place of Birth: Luwero

Education
Primary: Kabira International (1999-2004)
Secondary: International School of Uganda (2004-2013)
University: Joined Princeton in 2014

Rowing Events
- Qualified for 2020 Olympics
- 2019 Africa Olympics Qualifiers
- 2016 U-23 World Championships

Swimming Events
2012 Short Course World Championships

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