Asiya Mohamed
Asiya Sururu Mohamed is a Kenyan para-athlete, educator, and disability-rights advocate who has turned personal tragedy into sporting history. After losing both legs and three fingers in a train accident at age two, a crash that also claimed her father’s life, she discovered sport through adaptive PE classes, quickly excelling in wheelchair tennis before switching to rowing in 2018. Within two seasons she qualified Kenya’s first-ever Paralympic rowing berth, racing in the women’s single sculls (PR1 W1x) at Tokyo 2020.
Balancing training with a career as a physical-education teacher and motivational speaker, Asiya continued to raise the bar: in March 2023 she shattered two world records on the Concept2 erg, posting the fastest one-minute and 500-metre PR1 indoor-rowing times by a woman, then secured Africa’s continental slot for the Paris 2024 Paralympics with gold at the Tunis World Cup. Her progress has spurred Kenya Rowing & Canoeing Federation to launch an adaptive-rowing programme that now serves 70 athletes.
Off the water she mentors girls with disabilities through the Ability Beyond NGO, campaigns for inclusive school sport, and chairs the Athlete Commission of the National Paralympic Committee of Kenya. Asiya’s story embodies resilience and ambition, inspiring a new generation to see possibility where others see limitation.