User:Basement12/Olympics Sandbox

James Nyang Chiengjiek (born 1987 or 1988) is a track and field athlete originally from South Sudan, who has been selected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to compete for the Refugee Olympic Athletes team at the 2016 Summer Olympics due to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Personal life
Chiengjiek is originally from Bentiu, South Sudan. In 1999 his father, who was a solider, was killed during the Second Sudanese Civil War. At the age of 13 Chiengjiek left South Sudan and escaped to Kenya as a refugee to avoid being recruited by rebels as a child soldier. In 2020 he ended up at the Kakuma refugee camp. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) officially granted him refugee status in December 2014.

Athletics career
He began running whilst attending school in Kenya; joining a group of older children from a town in the highlands known for its runners who were training for long-distance events. He often had to train without shoes which resulted in him getting injured frequently.

In 2013 he was selected to join a group of athletes in the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation, a support program for refugees in the Kakuma camp run by former marathon world record holder Tegla Loroupe. These athletes were identified by the IOC as having the potential to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

On 3 June 2016 the IOC announced that Chiengjiek would be part of a team of ten athletes selected to compete as a Refugee Olympic Athlete team at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is due to compete in the men's 400 metre event.