Hermas Muvunyi

Hermas Muvunyi
Full name	Hermas Cliff Muvunyi
nation	Rwanda
birthday	3rd December 1988
place of birth	Kamonyi District , Southern Province
Career
discipline	100 m (formerly), 400 m , 800 m , 1500 m
society	APR FC
Trainer	Eric Karasira
National squad	since 2010
status	active
Medal table
World Championships for the Disabled gold 2013 Lyon 800 m Para-Africa Games gold 2011 Maputo 400 m silver 2011 Maputo 800 m gold 2015 Brazzaville 400 m Para-games of the Francophonie gold 2013 Nice 800 m
last change: October 4th, 2019

Hermas Cliff Muvunyi (born December 3, 1988 in Kamonyi District , Southern Province ) is a former Rwandan sprinter and middle-distance runner in disabled sports . Muvunyi names the Kenyan 800-meter runner David Lekuta Rudisha as his sporting role model .

Personal background

Muvunyi's parents are Sylvestre Habimana and Lydia Nyiramasirabo. He has two sisters and four brothers and was born with a slight disability in his right arm. This worsened at the age of six when he injured that same arm while playing soccer with neighborhood children. He attended Mugina B primary school, completed his Ordinary level (O'level) at Saint Ignace College and then switched to a school in Kanyabanda , where he initially completed his formal education in 2007 with the Advanced Level . He then attended secondary school, where he graduated in 2011 in agriculture.

Athletic career

Due to his arm disability, Muvunyi is in classification group T46 . He started serious training in 2007 and in April 2009 he joined the Kamonyi Athletics Club. For this, however, he completed only one competition in five months - the national team championships held in the Muhanga district , the overall ranking of which his club won. There his talent caught the attention of APR FC , to which he soon switched.

Its first major international sporting event was the African Athletics Championships for non-disabled athletes in Nairobi in 2010 . At the end of July, he represented his country there as the starting runner of the Rwandan 4 x 400 meter relay . The quartet missed the finals with ninth place in the preliminary run, but set a new national record in 3: 21.01 minutes. In October the same year Muvunyi traveled to the Indian Delhi , where the 2010 Commonwealth Games were held. One of three affiliated para-athletics competitions was the 100-meter run for T46. He reached the finals via preliminary and semi-finals, but did not get past sixth place in 11.69 seconds.

The following year he was able to secure a gold medal over 400 meters and second place over twice the distance at the Para competitions of the Africa Games 2011 in Maputo . This qualified him for the 2012 Paralympic Summer Games in London . There he managed to reach the final over 400 meters on September 4th as the fastest, which he finally finished fifth. He set a new African record in both races. A few days later he even won the bronze medal over 800 meters, but was subsequently disqualified because he had pushed the Kenyan Abraham Cheruiyot Tarbei off the track on the home straight.

Finally, on July 22, 2013, Muvunyi experienced his most important sporting moment to date at the World Athletics Championships for the disabled in Lyon . In a personal best of 1: 54.04 minutes, he clearly beat his opponents over 800 meters in a final with only four starters and became world champion. He did not appear in his semi-final over 400 meters on July 25th. For this victory, he received four million Rwanda francs as a bonus from the Rwandan Ministry of Sports and Culture and the National Paralympic Committee - the equivalent of around 5200 euros . In addition, several French clubs competed for him, but he decided against a move abroad. In March 2015, Muvunyi won both gold medals over 400 and 800 meters (0: 51.25 and 2: 01.74 min) at the prestigious 9th IPC Grand Prix de Tunis . He had already succeeded in doing the same at the 2012 event. For this achievement the ministry rewarded him again with one million RWF (about 1300 euros). At the African Games in the Congolese capital Brazzaville , Muvunyi was able to defend his title in the 400-meter run in September of the same year. A T46 race over 800 meters was not held this time. Muvunyi had the same "problem" at the World Championships in October 2015 in Doha , the capital of Qatar . Over 400 meters he was not up to the competition and only finished sixth; in the race over 1500 meters he finished fourth with a new personal best.

At the 2016 Paralympic Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro , Muvunyi was considered his country's great hope for a medal; however, in his favorite discipline - the 800 meter run - again no race was held in his starting class. He only reached fifth place over 1500 meters and one day later he was disqualified after the final over 400 meters, which he had also finished fifth, because he had exceeded his lane limit during the race. After he had retired from competitive sports in the meantime, he took part again in the World Athletics Championships for the disabled in Dubai in 2019 . There he started in the absence of a T46 race in his special discipline over 800 meters in the 1500-meter run and took eleventh place.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Irene Nayebare / Richard Bishumba: "Paralympian Muvunyi has world at his feet" . On August 2, 2013 on newtimes.co.rw ( The New Times ). Retrieved August 20, 2015.
2. ↑ Bonnie Mugabe: "Medal hopes shattered" . September 9, 2012 on newtimes.co.rw ( The New Times ). Retrieved August 20, 2015.
3. ↑ Richard Bishumba: "NPC lauds Muvunyi's heroic display at Grand Prix de Tunis" . April 1, 2015 on newtimes.co.rw ( The New Times ). Retrieved August 20, 2015.
4. ↑ Richard Bishumba: "Minispoc pledges Rwf 1 m to Paralympian Muvunyi" . May 6, 2015 on newtimes.co.rw ( The New Times ). Retrieved August 20, 2015.