This year at the Olympics, Nepal is proud to have Gaurika Singh on their team. Gaurika is the youngest member of the national team at only 13 years old. Not only is she the youngest on the team, but she is the youngest participant in the Olympics. She brings the spotlight to Nepal despite leaving the country with her family at the age of two. Singh currently resides in London and attends the prestigious Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls and will enter the ninth grade after returning home.
She is a survivor of the devastating earthquake that hit Nepal last year. Nearly 9,000 people were killed in one of the worst natural disasters for the country and Singh was lucky enough to have survived even though she was in a five-store building at the time the earthquake hit.
Gaurika had the opportunity to represent the British but chose to be part of the Nepali team for the Rio games. She finished first in Heat 1 for Nepal for the Women’s 100m backstroke event. While she didn’t progress further, she is still regarded a national treasure for the country and completed the event in 1 minute and 8.45 seconds. There’s more to come from this young athlete.
