Episode #16

Hello, my name is Daniel Abraham Gebru, reigning Paralympic cycling champion for the Netherlands, but my roots are in Eritrea. Currently, I am mentoring young refugees in the Netherlands and trying to inspire them by showing them how sports can help them integrate in the Netherlands. In addition, I am working hard towards my goal of successfully defending my Olympic title later this year. I am happy to share my experiences, highs and lows with you on the road to Tokyo 2021!

This week the moment was finally there: travel day! Together with other members of Team NL we headed to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. For me this moment was the official start sign of my Tokyo 2021 campaign. It felt great to be together with all these amazing, motivated athletes. For many ‘colleagues’ it was going to be their first ever visit to Tokyo. Despite I have been there already one time before, I can’t lie that there was some healthy tension. By the way, what a great job by the staff making such a complicated logistic process as easy as possible for us!

"DESPITE I HAVE BEEN IN TOKYO ALREADY ONE TIME BEFORE, I CAN'T LIE THAT THERE WAS SOME HEALTHY TENSION"

When I write this, I have already arrived in Tokyo. Even better, I have already ridden my bike. Nothing too much, but a nice and easy two hour ride to stretch the legs. It was a welcome start to this adventure, but I am ready for the coming days, when we have more intensive training sessions planned. All of them will be on the track, since it will be my first goal of the event. Did you already have the chance to see my race program? I will share it down below, so you will able to support me from a distance. Knowing that you all will be there rooting for me, will give me even more motivation to go all-in. Thank you!

Race program
27.08 | 4 km Individual Pursuit (Track)
31.08 | Individual Time Trial (Road)
02.09 | C4-5 Road Race (Road)

See you soon, Daniel

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