Sculling to History for Uganda

Kathleen Noble is in Paris representing Uganda in the women’s single scull. On Friday 2 August, she will race in the Final E, but she has already made history, in so many ways.

Noble is an Irish-Ugandan rower. Formerly a swimmer, she was part of the Ugandan Team at the 2012 World Swimming Championships. However, in 2014 whilst studying at Princeton University, she got interested in rowing through her roommate, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Her first appearance on the international stage was at the 2016 World Rowing Under Championships where Noble finished second in the Final D of the lightweight women’s single sculls.

Then, after graduating from Princeton, she moved to Utah and resumed training. During this period. she qualified for the Tokyo

2020 Olympic Games  after winning at the African Qualification Regatta. At this point, she had already made history, being the first Ugandan to qualify for rowing at an Olympic Games. Speaking in Paris reflecting on her preparation for Tokyo, she explained how challenging it had been;

“For me, the challenge has been that it has been very isolating because I haven’t had the chance to train as part of a team, I haven’t had the structure of a programme and so when I was training for the Tokyo Olympics, I was training with a high school team, Utah crew, who are just fabulous people.”

In Tokyo, Noble finished second in the Final E (26th overall).

“This time round, it has been even more me on my own. Most of the time just me and my coach and then sometimes some other masters rowers would come out and row with me. Finding the motivation to be out there by yourself is quite challenging.”

Kathleen spoke passionately about her association with the Olympic Regatta;

When I come here, I’m not contending for a medal and you kind of think “What is the purpose of this? What is the meaning of this? What am I trying to do with this? For me, the answer the answer is twofold;

“One is, there is a lot of virtues we associate with Olympians; dedication, commitment, and all of those things can be true, even if you’re not the fastest person. 

“The second part is around trying to inspire athletes back home and develop rowing and shine a spotlight on that.”

Asked what she hopes her personal legacy will be for Ugandan rowing, Kathleen said;

“Honestly, I think I almost see it as the beginning of Ugandan Rowing in a way. Rowing started in Uganda in about 2008-2009 and there was a donation of boats that came in and energy around it, but it quite quickly fizzled out. Administration was chaotic and a lot of people left the sport so we were kind of in a worse spot in 2019 than we were in 2016. After I qualified for the Olympics in 2020, it generated a lot of enthusiasm and we had track and field athletes who though “I could do rowing” and they switched over for a while.

“The first time I was at the Olympics, the outcome was enthusiasm. I’m hoping that the outcome of the second time, it will be the creation of structures that will allow people to take that enthusiasm and actually do something with it.”

Kathleen will race for Uganda in the Final E of the women’s single sculls on Friday 02 August 2024 at 09:06. She will also be the flag bearer for Uganda at the Olympic Closing Ceremony on Sunday 11 August.

Find out more about Kathleen Noble in our “Single Minded” series.