Jonah Harris

  The Nauruan sprinter’s time of 11.01 seconds was not enough to get him a place in the next round.

Refugee Olympics Team’s official Dorian Keletela won the race with a time of 10.33 seconds.

Gabon’s Guy Gorra finished in second with a time of 10.61 seconds ahead of Democratic Republic of the Congo, Oliver Mwimba, who came in third with a time of 10.63 seconds.

Nauru first competed at the Olympic Games in 1996. However, that wasn’t the first Nauran to compete at the Games. Marcus, the now Nauru National Olympic President, represented Samoa at the 1992 Games in Barcelona.

“I wish to inform everyone that Team Nauru unfortunately will not be participating at the 2018 Micro Games,” Stephen wrote. “It is a big disappointment for us, as we had ordered all our uniforms and paid for them, but due to the travel costs … it is simply not feasible for us.”

But that didn’t stop Jonah Harris from boarding a plane in Europe and heading to Yap. “I was in Finland, just about to board my plane, when I got a message from my family saying that Nauru had pulled out from the Games.”