[ti:Somalia's First Female Taekwondo Athlete to Compete in Tokyo] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]With the Olympics in Tokyo now just a month away, [00:04.72]Somalia is set to send its first female taekwondo athlete to the games. [00:13.04]No athlete representing Somalia [00:16.24]has ever a won an award at the Olympics. [00:20.72]But 20-year-old Munirah Warsame [00:23.88]is working hard to be the first [00:26.52]when she competes at the summer games. [00:30.48]The taekwondo athlete was born in Britain [00:34.32]after her parents fled violence in Somalia. [00:38.92]She began learning taekwondo at the age of six. [00:45.52]Warsame says flying the Somali flag in Japan [00:49.96]will give her a sense of pride. [00:53.96]"Feelings of representing my country [00:56.32]in the Olympics for the first time [00:58.72]is unreal as I have dreamed about this my whole life," she said. [01:05.12]"God willing, I will do myself and my country proud." [01:11.12]The Somali Olympics agency [01:13.60]says at least six athletes will represent the country in Tokyo. [01:21.16]They will compete in three areas: taekwondo, [01:25.92]boxing and track and field, [01:28.44]which involves running, jumping and throwing. [01:33.60]Dudley Ricardo is coach of the Somali taekwondo team. [01:39.44]He said his team is very well prepared [01:42.64]even though it does not have the finances it needs. [01:48.20]"I believe we have a small but strong current team [01:52.48]with up-and-coming young team members," he said. [01:57.72]He called the possibilities [01:59.44]for the Somali national team "bright and promising." [02:04.84]He said that his team's only weakness is a lack of money [02:09.28]for the players to get "valuable ring time [02:12.92]and more competitions and training camps." [02:18.00]Taekwondo is not a well-known sport in Somalia. [02:22.96]Ahmed Issa is the vice president [02:26.36]of the Somali Taekwondo Federation. [02:31.32]He says the organization has a campaign [02:35.08]to spread knowledge about taekwondo throughout the country. [02:40.92]The group wants to find more athletes like Warsame [02:45.76]who could represent Somalia in international competitions. [02:51.80]The Somali Taekwondo Federation is planning to bring in [02:57.36]more young people to learn the sport, [03:00.68]especially at schools and universities, Issa said. [03:06.48]To create more interest, he said that his organization [03:11.04]is trying to give free trainings and [03:14.84]get special coaches on the international level. [03:19.36]More than 11,000 athletes from around the world [03:24.04]are expected to compete in the Tokyo Olympics. [03:29.32]The games were delayed from last year [03:32.32]because of the coronavirus pandemic. [03:36.76]I'm Alice Bryant. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM