EXCLUSIVE: German-born Kenyan fencer Alexandra Ndolo eyeing podium finish in Paris
Born in Bayreuth, Northern Bavaria, Germany, to a Kenyan father and a Polish mother, Ndolo will get the opportunity to debut for Kenya at the Olympics, having switched allegiance to her father’s country in July 2022.
She had already represented the nation of birth Germany for 15 years.
While Kenya is well-known for athletics, they have entered one fencer into the Olympic competition, marking the country’s debut in the sport. Ndolo secured her quota places in women’s epee events after being nominated as the highest-ranked individual fencer eligible for the African zone through the release of the FIE official ranking for Paris 2024.
Ndolo sets target of podium finish
She proceeded to qualify for the Games after finishing 11th at her final qualification tournament in Nanjing, China on March 22nd, 2024. Ndolo, who won a bronze medal for Germany at the World Fencing Championships in 2022 in Cairo, Egypt, believes she has already done enough and has set herself a target of a podium finish at the Paris Olympics.
“So I was really happy, obviously, all those emotions when I qualified but now I’m more focused already towards the competition because I don’t want to just participate, I want to win a medal, so it’s only four months until the games, and I want to make sure that I have the best competition I can have,” Ndolo told Flashcore News.
“I think I already set the highest bar for myself because I’m making history just by going for Kenya, so everything I do now are like first steps, and history makers but I have high expectations of myself and me, I want to win a medal. So the bar I set for myself is extremely high.”
On how she felt after finally qualifying for the Olympics during the last qualifying championship in China, Ndolo - who finished 11th of 200 contestants, a display that placed her 14th in the world, the highest-placed African - said: “Training has been good, but obviously towards the end of the qualification, it was tough, you know, because you see the finish line and you want to make yourself proud, you want to make that big step and qualify and finally be able to tell yourself I’ve done it.
“So I think those last weeks were like really kind of draining a bit tough and then a big relief when I finally qualified.”
Happy with how appreciative Kenyans are
Before switching her allegiance to Kenya, Ndolo had represented Germany at the 2013 Summer Universiade held in Kazan, Russia; competed in the women’s epee event at the World Fencing Championships in 2015, 2017 and 2019; and won the silver medal in the women’s epee event at the 2017 European Fencing Championships held in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Despite all these achievements, Ndolo is still keen to make Kenyan people proud because of their support towards her.
“I really love how appreciative Kenyans are, how supportive, how much joy you can feel, people are really behind you and wishing you all the best, so that is a big boost to have such support,” she added.
While she admitted to having been a regular visitor to Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, Ndolo did not shy away from discussing the difficulties she had faced especially with the traffic in the City.
“Oh, I love Nairobi, the city changes every time I come here, it is like so much is happening but with all these excitements and so much that is happening.
"Of course, there comes a lot of traffic and I am not sure if I’ll ever get used to Nairobi traffic because you think it will take you 20 minutes to get somewhere and then you’re just stuck and it takes you 45 up to an hour, so that is very different from many other places that I have visited,” she explained.
On donning the green-red-black and white colours for Kenya, Ndolo said: “It is always special wearing the national flag on your chest, and my fencing kit, you know, I have it on the legs and the arms. So I think I will never get completely used to that feeling because it is a very good feeling.”
What does Ndolo like to do outside fencing?
Ndolo, whose first competition as a Kenyan fencer was at the World Cup epee event in Tallinn, Estonia in November 2023, revealed her love for singing, saying it was all down to her parents, who used to have friends from every corner of the world.
“I like to sing, music is like one of my passions, I like to listen to all sorts of music, but as a teenager, I was really into hip hop, but then it has shifted a little bit more to electronic music I grew up with it, let’s say world music, all difference influences through my parents because they had, like friends from every corner of the world, always over and so, yeah, music is one of my passions,” said Ndolo.
“Apart from that I don’t have so much time at the moment for many other things, so I think music would be nice for us.”
On what she experienced during her first visit to the National Museum of Kenya, she said: “It was great. When I went to the National Museum of Kenya, I had never been there before, funnily enough, even though I have been coming to Nairobi for 19 years now, so it was really nice, (got a private tour and obviously, it wasn’t everything new to me) because I’ve been learning about my father’s culture and my culture.”
