Olara has eyes on Mr Olympia after grabbing bronze in China

Uganda's bodybuilder Derrick Olara has vowed to continue working hard until he achieves his dream of becoming Mr Olympia, after grabbing a bronze medal from the Joe Weider's China Amateur Olympia Bodybuilding Championship in Chengdu City in China, early this month.

The 26-year-old heavyweight muscleman emerged third in the traditional bodybuilding to win his first medal for Uganda from the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) organised championship.

"This medal is like my big dream. I've been praying to step up on that IFBB stage and the one for Mr Olympia, so it is really big for me and I'm so happy that I made it," Olara said.

"My target right now is to keep the focus and to work hard to get the pro card from the next competition. My future target is to get onto the Mr Olympia stage in America.

"I want to be Mr Olympia one day and I pray for that and I keep working hard for that, every day," Olara stated.

Speaking about his medal, International Natural Bodybuilding Association Championships gold medalist, Mubarak Kizito said the medal was a big achievement for the country.

"If he won the competition, he was going to become a pro but all the same, it is a very big achievement," Kizito said.

Olara, an athlete from Gulu first came to the limelight when he won the heavyweight category and also finished as runner up to Isaac Mubikirwa during the 2017 Mr Uganda Championships, only losing the overall crown due to inexperience and by body mass and muscle build.

The following year he skipped the Mr Uganda championships held in Masaka and instead competed in the Mr Greater Western competition in Kenya which he won. But later reports indicated that he was later stripped of the medal after he refused to have his urine samples taken by the Anti-Doping Association of Kenya.  

The former University of pain muscleman is the first bodybuilder from the north to reach such heights in the sport since the sport was introduced there in 2015.

Ivan Byekwaso is the other Ugandan muscleman who has shone on the international scene winning the Mr Universe and the AM World Cup in the US in 2015.