Lack of specialist equipment and top-class competition are almost insurmountable barriers to even the most physicallygifted athlete such as Niyonshuti, but by finishing fourth in last year's African Mountain Bike Championships he booked his place on the starting line at Hadleigh Farm.
In the U.S., athletes are not allowed to go pro until they have been out of high school for three years ( except in basketball the number is one), so college sports is the only way for physicallygifted kids to earn money from sports.