An Olympic dream has come true for Kinzang Lhamo and Lam Dorji from the small Himalayan state of Bhutan , who are bound for the Paris Games .

"It has always been one of my dreams, to compete at such a stage," marathon runner Lhamo told DW. "I never expected to one day have the opportunity, but I am so grateful to have been given the chance to represent Bhutan."

Lam Dorji, an archer, expressed a similar sentiment.

"Every athlete's dream is to one day compete in the Olympics. It will be my biggest achievement just to participate in such an important competition," he said. "I will always remember this moment."

Marathon runner with no experience on flat ground

Both are among Bhutan's best athletes. Lhamo won the Bhutan International Marathon last March in the small town of Punakha in the west of the country. In 2022, she came second in the Snowman Race, an extreme event through the mountains of Bhutan. The five daily stages covered 203 kilometers (126 miles), with the highest point coming at 5,470 meters.

The Olympic Games will be the 25-year-old athlete's first competition outside of Bhutan.

"My first goal is to complete the marathon and then break my own personal record," she said. "It will be my first time participating in an international competition, and my first time in Europe."

Her best time is 3:26 hours, set in March at the marathon in Punakha. What sort of time she could run on the much flatter course in Paris is anybody's guess.

In pursuit of a personal best

Dorji also remains modest in his choice of Olympic aim.

"The best of the best will be there, and competing against those incredible archers will not be easy, when some of them have been competing many times in the Olympics already," he said. "But I hope to be competitive and break my own personal record."

His personal best is 664 out of a possible 720 points. At 184th in the world, he is well down the world rankings.

The fact that athletes like Dorji and Lhamo have the chance to compete at the Olympic Games in Paris is due to the Olympic Charter. It stipulates the goal of the greatest possible universality.

In other words: if possible, all 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) should be represented at the Games.

The whole world at the Olympics

However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) only officially invited 204 NOCs to the Games in Paris. Russia and Belarus were excluded due to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Only a few athletes from these two countries will be allowed to compete in Paris – under strict conditions and a neutral flag.

Most of the approximately 10,500 athletes in Paris have met the qualifying standards of the world federation for their respective sport. However, to ensure that athletes from small, structurally weak countries and territories can also take part, more than 100 "universality places" were to be awarded in 23 individual sports.

All the IOC requires from these athletes is that they have demonstrated that they can compete at a "technical level to compete safely and with dignity."

Taking part is everything

The IOC is aiming as much as possible to avoid cases like that of swimmer Eric Moussambani of Equatorial Guinea. At the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Moussambani only managed the freestyle distance of 100 meters with great difficulty. In his own words, the African had never swum that far before. His time was the worst in Olympic history. Nevertheless, the spectators celebrated him because he perfectly embodied the Olympic motto "Taking part is everything".

Sangay Tenzin, a swimmer from Bhutan, will also be competing in Paris. The 20-year-old also took part in Tokyo 2021. Tenzin, who learned to swim in the rivers of his home country, trains in Thailand. Last May, the country's first 25-meter competition pool was inaugurated in Thimphu, Bhutan's capital.

National sport is archery

Only National Olympic Committees that were represented at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro and 2021 Games in Tokyo with an average of eight or fewer athletes were allowed to apply for the universal starting places for Paris 2024. The requirement was met by 93 National Olympic Committees (NOC) – 35 from Africa, 17 from Asia, 18 from Latin America, 14 from Oceania and nine from Europe.

Bhutan, which is roughly the size of Switzerland and is home to almost 780,000 people, has been part of the Olympic family since the end of 1983. The Bhutanese NOC was founded at that time.

At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, three Bhutanese women and three Bhutanese men competed for the first time – all in the national sport of archery. Since then, the country has been represented by at least two athletes at every Summer Olympics. Since 2012, Bhutanese athletes have also competed in shooting, judo and swimming.

Before Paris 2024, a total of 31 athletes from Bhutan had taken part in Olympic Games – 30 of them by invitation. Karma, an archer with one name, was the first athlete from Bhutan to qualify through performance for the Olympics – competing at the Games in Tokyo in 2021.

'The size of the country doesn't matter'

Lhamo and Dorji see themselves as ambassadors for their country in Paris.

"I am excited to be competing against all those athletes from all over the world, but getting a bit nervous at the same time," Lhamo said. "I will do my best to represent Bhutan in the best way I can."

Dorji said his aim was to put Bhutan on the map in the world of archery.

"I want to convey the message that even small countries can participate and do their best at such big world events," he said. "A country's size doesn't matter."

The Paris Olympics are July 26-August 11.

This article was originally published in German.