When she is at the stadium athlete Karin Okolie is in a relentless race against the clock. When she is not running, she likes enjoying her time as much as possible.

24-year-old Karin owes her name to her African grandmother Carolina, while her beautiful smile and caramel skin color was born of the love between a Bulgarian woman and a Nigerian. And although she grew up in Bulgaria, she says she feels both her Bulgarian and Nigerian roots.I have hot temperament and I easily make friends. I also love music very much, she says.

Athletics or ballet was Karin’s dilemma when she was a child but she chose sports and for twelve years she has been striving for perfection in the 100 and 200- m sprint disciplines. So at the Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore, she placed fifth in the 200m race with a personal result. She also set two national records in the same discipline –among the girls of up to 16 years of age and in the junior age category. Today her main goal is to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and many people have started to compare her to Ivet lalova.

“Of course I like her, but the truth is that we are very different," Karin Okolie says. “Ivet Lalova is a great athlete; she is the face of Bulgarian sport and everyone in the world of athletics links Bulgaria with her name. For me it is a compliment that people compare me to her, although I have not yet reached her success, but at the same time I am glad when I am compared to myself.”

The two athletes surely have one thing in common and it is their charisma. That's why Karin often poses for the camera as a hobby and she spends the rest of her time studying–she has graduated in marketing from the NBU. She is also focused on her personal blog called “My Book of Inspirations.”

“My idea is to make people feel good, to inspire them so they know they should not give up," she says. “I like working on my blog, because it cuts me off from the world of sport and helps me see the world from a different angle. I write about things I go through myself, but always in a positive way. My last post, for example, focuses on ways that help people use time more efficiently and handle all their tasks. I also love to write on philosophical topics, but I am avoiding publishing them because I think people prefer more joyful texts.”

Karin is open to the diversity of the world, but her cheerfulness and kindness has not always been reflected in the behavior of other children as she was the only girl with dark complexion at school.

“There have been times when I felt people did not like me, but the harsh moments were few," Karin Okoliere calls. "Today, however, I see less surprised looks on the street, as people travel more and the Internet and television help too. Generally, people tend to have prejudices not only when it comes to skin color but also toward everything they are not used to seeing or is new to them. And I would say that this is typical of Bulgarians because I have spent my entire life here and feel that people love traditional things. But in order to develop and get better we must give chance to new things and not condemn them immediately.”

English: Alexander Markov