ZIMBABWEAN triathlon star Andie Kuipers sees a silver lining in her failure to qualify for the Paris Olympics after a spirited pursuit for a berth at this year's Games.
The United States-based athlete finished fifth in her final qualifying race in Kazakhstan last week but her efforts were not enough to take her through.
"Unfortunately it wasn’t a great result for me. The water temperature was 12 degrees and air temp eight, so just too cold for what I am used to and had a panic attack in the water which meant I lost a lot of time that I just couldn’t make up," Kuipers told The Standard Sport.
Prior to the race in Kazakhstan, Kuipers was excited as she stood a chance of sneaking into the Paris Games.
However, her worst fears were confirmed a couple of days to the race. She had to battle demons from two fronts to stake a claim into the Olympics.
"I had never raced in Kazakhstan. Actually it's very different to what I expected. This is a very beautiful country. Training there has been so nice but I didn't realise that it was winter and very much close to Russia so their winters are very cold. So, they were expecting snow the morning of our race, so you know what that was going to look like in terms of swimming in the lake," she added.
"But, I definitely like the tougher conditions so I didn't mind that it was cold. I would prefer to race in cold than when it's really hot. Otherwise everything was good that side. This race four days prior to the event was very important because four days ago I could still have a chance to qualify with the new flag."
Born in a Christian family where they fellowship with the Anglican Church, Kuipers had hoped for a miracle in her time of recompense.
"Unfortunately the lady from South Africa didn't race in the race she needed to race in order to qualify the normal way for the Olympics. So, now she was in the spot for the new flag and there was no other spot left unless by some miracle they would roll the spots down; the South African goes back into the Olympics and simulation spot opens up," she added.
"And, if I got within 8% of the winner's time, then I could have gone but at that moment it didn't look too promising. I won't go to the Olympics but I just gave it my all. My goal was to finish this qualification period, having done everything that I could and I was happy."
She paid tribute to the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee (ZOC) for standing by her during her quest to qualify for the Olympics.
"I literally have done everything I could traveling across the world to race here was a big thing," said Kuipers.
"I'm so grateful to the ZOC for their support and helping me get here with everything and in this process I have grown so much as an athlete and I'm just so grateful to be able to have gone on this journey. I'm so excited for 2028."