The strange story of the Ugandan athlete who escaped the Olympics | “I want to work in Japan,” he wrote in a letter.

An athlete from Uganda caused an uproar in that country’s team, days before the start of 2021 Olympics. Julius SiketolikoThe 20-year-old weightlifter was declared “missing” Friday when colleagues noticed he had not been at the Osaka facility, where they had been staying since mid-June. Amid concerns about the case, police confirmed that Sikitoliko had written a letter clearly indicating her disappearance.

It all started when a weightlifter had to give a saliva sample for coronavirus tests and he didn’t show up. At the time, other athletes noticed that he was not in his room either and that his last record was from the early hours of Friday.

Then the police were notified. The president of the Uganda Weightlifting Federation, Salim Musuk Senkongo, confirmed that the athlete had trained “very hard” for the Games, but at the same time informed that he would not compete. “He was participating in the 61kg class, but we advise him to pass the 67kg test for administrative reasons. If someone comes to Japan thinking they are going to compete and receive bad news, they will obviously be upset,” said the leader, who did not specify the reasons.

According to a statement sent by the head of the Ugandan delegation, Beatrice Ayekoru, Sikitoliko is scheduled to return to Uganda next week with his coach. All of them were asked to “respect Japanese immigration regulations and not choose to leave the camp without permission.”

So the things, The athlete left the hotel without warning and bought an express train ticket to Nagoya, 200 km away. He left in his handwriting a note in which he advised that he did not want to return to Uganda due to the situation in his country and asked the delegation to hand over his belongings to his wife. “I want to work in Japan,” he explained.

Although she recently moved to compete in the senior category, Sikitoliko has a wealth of international experience, having competed in Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya and Egypt and last May she won a bronze medal at the African Championships in Nairobi.