Our Oliver bolts to sprint stardom

REMEMBER the name Oliver Ngaboyisonga — he is Victoria’s fastest 12-year-old and could very well be Australia’s next Olympic sprint champion.

The Clifton Spring Primary School pupil dreams of emulating Usain Bolt’s goldwinning success at the 2024 Paris Olympics. But to his fellow students, particularly the preps, Oliver already has hero status.

When Oliver won the 100m final in the Victorian primary school state track and field championships — he “dabbed” like Usain and copied the famous “the Bolt” move. His classmates cheered on.

When he realised he had beaten a state record, held since 1988, by just one hundredth of a second he was overjoyed. His classmates, who had watched every heat and the main race on a livestream video, cheered as if Oliver had won a gold medal.

“They all watched my race — and when I came back to school they (the pupils) said congratulations,” Oliver said.

The Kenyan migrant moved to Australia in 2010 and has only been at the small coastal school since January. It was only recently that Oliver even realised he was good at running.

As a five-year-old boy in Kenya he used to “run so fast my mum couldn’t catch me”. But he never thought of himself as a sprinter.

“Kenyans are made to be long distance runners,” Oliver said.

But Oliver isn’t really into long distance. He has run a few 3km races — but the 100m sprint is his pet event.

“It’s shorter. You have to be really fast — the key is to go out flat. How you leave the blocks is really important,” Oliver said.

The “pretty good” footballer who plays centre and half back says his fitness has improved so much this year he has sliced seconds off his time.

Oliver first began competing in the middle of 2016 — back then his fastest time was 14 seconds. His record breaking time was 12.24 seconds, just 2.36 seconds slower than Usain Bolt’s 9.88 seconds world record.

“Since then, I’ve really started to focus. When I started running in footy I realised I was fast — I would beat everyone and I started to get fitter,” Oliver said.

As well as winning the 100m sprint, Oliver came second in the 200m final. He also competed in the under-14s, where — despite only being 12 — he made the final in the 100m and 200m.

School assistant principal Ben McCredden said Oliver was a lovely student who had willingly shared his success with his peers.

“The little kids think he is a superhero. When we watched the race at school the atmosphere was amazing — the whole school was cheering,” Mr McCredden said.

“Oliver has embodied our school value of excellence by striving to be the best he can be in his running. However, the best part has been how humble he has been and the way he has shared his success with his schoolmates and teachers.”

Oliver will compete for Victoria in the Pacific Schools Games from December 1-8 in Adelaide. The whole school will be watching.