Gladys Ekaru Emaniman (born 2 October 1999) is a Kenyan volleyball player. She is part of the

Kenya women's national volleyball team The Kenya women's national volleyball team, the ''Malkia Strikers'', represents Kenya in international volleyball competitions. Kenya has dominated the African continent since the 1990s, winning the Women's African Volleyball Championship a recor ...

Life

She was born in

Trans-Nzoia County Trans-Nzoia County is a county in the former Rift Valley Province, Kenya, located between the Nzoia River and Mount Elgon, 380 km northwest of Nairobi. At its centre is the town of Kitale which is the capital and largest town. The count ...

in 1999. The event that shaped her career was when a friend persuaded her to get her parents to allow her to change schools. Ekaru was tall and a 400 metre runner and her fiend knew she would be good at volleyball. She changed schools to attend Kwanthanze Secondary School in Machakos County. Her parents were extra pleased when the school agreed to cover her costs with a scholarship. The school had a reputation for volleyball and in 2018 the national team took five players from the school. Ekaru found volleyball demanding and she decided to give it up. Luckily a team mate Sharon Chepchumba and the school's coach Justine Kigwari helped her. In 2019 she joined the Malkia Strikers (the national squad) with Jemimma Siangu and Ruth Mutinga in preparation for the

2019 African Games The 12th African Games was held from 19 to 31 August 2019 in Rabat, Morocco. This was the first time that the African Games were hosted by Morocco following the country's readmission to the African Union in January 2017. Bidding process The 12th ...

under the coach Japheth Munala. She got to play with her hero

Triza Atuka Triza Atuka (born 14 April 1992) is a Kenyan volleyball player. She is part of the Kenya women's national volleyball team. At club level she plays for the Kenya Pipeline Company team. In 2016, the Kenya Volleyball Federation awarded her their fe ...

. She made her international debut in Cairo. She was chosen to represent Kenya at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

by coach

Paul Bitok Paul Bitok (born 26 June 1970 in Kilibwoni, Nandi) is a Kenyan long-distance runner, who won two silver medals at consecutive Summer Olympics (1992, 1996) over 5000 metres. Life Bitok emerged in 1992 as a relatively unknown athlete. He qualif ...

. The team set off from Kenya for the Olympics in Tokyo in three batches to try and minimise the chances of being effected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Within their group the Kenyan team will first play the home team of Japan on 25 July and then at two day intervals the team will play South Korea, Serbia, the Dominican Republic and then Brazil on 2 August 2021.

References

1999 births Living people Kenyan women's volleyball players Volleyball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic volleyball players for Kenya People from Trans-Nzoia County Sportspeople from Rift Valley Province {{Kenya-volleyball-bio-stub