- An athlete who was supposed to represent Rwanda at Paris 2024 has disappeared
- Police have launched an investigation and described her disappearance as “worrying”.
- The woman was part of Rwanda’s Paralympic women’s sitting volleyball team.
A member of Rwanda’s women’s Paralympic sitting volleyball team has gone missing in Paris.
The athlete did not appear at the opening ceremony, despite arriving in the French capital earlier this month.
On August 20, he left his accommodation in Paris to visit a restaurant with a group of people, but did not return.
A police investigation has since been launched.
This was confirmed in a statement issued on Wednesday morning, ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games.
The opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Paralympics took place on Wednesday
The ceremony was attended by many Rwandan athletes, but one volleyball player was missing.
The police statement said the “worrying disappearance” was being investigated and had been referred to the BRDP (Brigade for the Repression of Crimes against Persons).
The Rwandan ambassador has since paid a visit to the place where the athlete disappeared.
Despite the absence of one of their members, Rwanda’s women began their sitting volleyball campaign at Paris 2024 on Thursday.
They lost 3-0 (25-13, 25-10, 25-7) to Brazil.
Rwanda’s next match will be against Slovenia on Saturday.
Without their teammate absent, Rwanda’s women’s sitting volleyball team lost 3-0 to Brazil
While it is deeply worrying and there are genuine fears for the missing volleyball player’s safety, this is not the first time an athlete has gone missing at the Olympic or Commonwealth Games.
More than a dozen athletes, including two from Rwanda, have been reported missing during or immediately after the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.
Many of them are known to have fled to seek asylum.
However, it is not known whether the volleyball player currently missing in Paris deliberately fled.