After Friday’s E Final of the Paris 2024 Olympics, two-time Olympian Grace Kathleen Noble will announce her retirement from competitive high-level sports.
With a time of 8:38.70, the Ugandan rower finished second in the semifinal E/F 2 on Monday, narrowly behind Nihed Benchadlin of Algeria. After Paris 2024, the rower intends to turn his attention to a new endeavor.
In a Monday interview with journalist Clive Kyazze, Noble declared her resignation.
“This is it, I am retiring. Friday will be my last race. I want to move on to new phase of life, I want to start a family, focus on my career and I want to hand the tide to somebody else.”
I am so very happy to wrap up this season and move to something else.” Said Noble
Noble, the first-ever Ugandan rower to represent her country in the Olympics in Tokyo, feels that national and regional championships should be the main priority instead of qualifying athletes.
“I honestly think that we need to take the focus off trying to qualify for Los Angeles games and put it on creating national and regional championships to create a community that is more vibrant within the country,” Said Kathleen Noble.
Noble lost to the repechage in her first race in heat one, and her best time at the Olympics was 8:08:90.
She had hoped to advance to the quarterfinals of the Paris Games, but her time of 8:08.90 on Saturday prevented her from earning a spot automatically.
On Sunday, she had another opportunity, but this time, she was unable to qualify, finishing in third place with a time of 8:15.10.
