From fleeing war-torn Sudan to Australian Olympic finalist: The story of Peter Bol.

On Sunday night, Nagmeldin “Peter” Bol became the first Australian man in 53 years to qualify for an Olympic men’s 800m final.

The 27-year-old is now a strong medal contention for the final on Wednesday. There was only one man faster than him – by 0.07 seconds – in the semi-finals: Ferguson Rotich from Kenya.

Give me a B, give me an O, give me an L!

PETER BOL IS THE FIRST AUSSIE SINCE 1968 TO MAKE THE 800m FINAL!!#Tokyo2020 | #7Olympics pic.twitter.com/19DyMyyYcJ

— 7Olympics (@7olympics) August 1, 2021

In response to commentator Bruce McAvaney saying Bol was a gold medal chance, he remained modest, saying “we can’t underestimate any of these runners”. Australia can certainly hope though. 

But Bol’s journey to the Olympics has been unlike many others. Here’s what we know about Australia’s new star of the track. 

Bol was born in 1994 in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. At age four, his family fled the war-torn country before they lived in a refugee camp in Egypt for four years. In 2004, they immigrated to Toowoomba, Queensland.

When they arrived, no one in his family spoke English.

From a young age, Bol remembers his father telling him stories about Sudan’s conflict and their family’s struggles. 

“So [my father] always tried to push us a bit harder in whatever we do. Sudan has always had conflict and it wasn’t really a safe place to be,” he told The West Australian in 2015. “So they saw that the best opportunity was to get their children out of there and work towards a better life.

“I’m pretty grateful to [my parents] because all of their circumstances worked to my favour. Life could be a lot different.”

Peter Bol’s family fled war-torn Sudan when he was four years old. Image: Getty.