Jair Tjon En Fa – Suriname’s pioneer track cycling pioneer eyes Paris 2024

When Jair Tjon En Fa opted to pursue his passion for cycling, it looked like an unusual choice for someone coming from a country without a built track or velodrome.

In fact, most of the famous athletes from Suriname are footballers, and the nation’s most decorated Olympian is a swimmer: the 1988 gold medallist in the 100m butterfly Anthony Nesty.

What’s more impressive is that Tjon En Fa not only qualified for the Olympics (something that fellow Surinamese cyclist Realdo Kenneth Jessurun did twice), but he nearly reached the podium at his debut Games. finishing fourth in the Keirin event at Tokyo 2020.

“Everyone was excited that I made it to the final and that I finished fourth because it had been a super long time that someone had made it to the Olympic final other than Anthony Nesty,” he shared in an interview with Olympics.com from Aigle, Switzerland where he trains full time at the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale)’s World Cycling Centre.

“I always loved sprinting more than being on the road. But in Suriname we don’t have a track, so I did my first track race in 2007 when I was about 13 years old, and I loved it ever since.”

Leaving home was the only option to keep chasing his dream.

“It was my goal ever since to switch to track cycling so when I got the chance when I was 17, I moved to Miami.”

Since then, Tjon En Fa has dedicated himself to track cycling with the dream of riding at the Olympics and is Suriname’s only competitor in the UCI Track Champions League.

Tjon En Fa: Love at first try with track cycling

Tjon En Fa loved his bike. As a young teen, he knew he wanted to be a cyclist and not follow the well-trodden path of some famous footballers who are natives of Suriname like Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Clarence Seedorf, and Edgar Davids among others.

He also didn’t want to be a road cyclist, which is more popular in the smallest sovereign state lying on the northeast coast of South America.

From what he had watched on TV, he always imagined himself sprinting, but with no track in his home city of Paramaribo, it remained a dream.

His cycling journey commenced properly in Trinidad and Tobago, the closest track to home.

“I went just to try it out, also because a lot of people advised me that it fits better than being on the road,” he recalled. “I tried it out and I loved it. And then when I was 17, I got the opportunity to move to Miami, where I could have a track. I lived in Miami for about six years before I moved to Switzerland.”

For the last four years, the three-time silver medallist has been at the World Cycling Centre, honing his skills and training with some of the best riders in the world.

“It’s just something I love doing. A lot of people ask me, how…