For one hundred days, the genocide in Rwanda matched the industrialised efficiency of the Nazi death camps in the Second World War. As a seven-year-old, Adrien miraculously survived the slaughter and is now the No.1 mountain biker on the biggest cycling team in Africa. He will be, without doubt, the most extraordinary athlete at the 2012 Olympic Games.

Two hours away from Johannesburg,creed streamed from their homes to vote for a bright new future, ordinary Rwandans – a short plane hop to the north – finished up breakfast, shouldered their machetes and trudged out to look for their neighbours. That’s how it had been for 21 days, and how it would be for another eighty. As long as the world turned its back, in Rwanda daytime meant killing time. Seven-year-old Adrien Niyonshuti did exactly what his mum and dad told him, and started running.