Thinley Lhendup Takes His Journey from Bhutanese Athlete to Sports Sustainability Scholar in South Korea
By Victor Gurung
Press Attaché | Team Bhutan
20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026
OKAZAKI, Japan | 2 Oct 2026
When Thinley Lhendup graduated with a degree in Finance from Royal Thimphu College in 2023, there was little indication that running would soon become the path that shaped his life. Today, the 25-year-old is a national middle- and long-distance runner representing Bhutan, a scholarship recipient studying sports sustainability in South Korea and a young athlete beginning to think about how he can contribute to the future of sport back home.
His journey has been anything but predictable. After completing his Bachelor of Commerce in Finance, Thinley found himself at a familiar crossroads. Like many young graduates, he had different choices in front of him. He could look for a job, continue along an academic path or consider opportunities abroad. Instead, he decided to take a chance on something he genuinely enjoyed. He chose running.
With the support of his family and friends, Thinley began taking athletics seriously in August 2023, focusing on middle- and long-distance running. At that point, he did not know where the decision would take him. He simply wanted to give himself an opportunity to find out how far he could go. That decision gradually changed the direction of his life.
With the support of the Bhutan Amateur Athletics Federation, Thinley was selected as a national athlete and eventually became part of the Bhutan national athletics team. What began as a personal passion slowly became a responsibility, not only to himself but also to the country he represents.
Over the past three years, he has competed in 13 official competitions. He has won the fourth and fifth editions of the Druk Wangyel Run half marathon and, more recently, the 19th Edition of the Bhutan Coronation Marathon. In several other competitions, he has finished among the top three or top five. But Thinley’s journey has never been only about the races he has won.
There have also been races where he could not produce the performance he had hoped for, including two particularly difficult competitions. Those experiences were disappointing, but they taught him an important lesson about the life of an athlete. A single race does not define a career. There are days when everything comes together, and there are days when it does not. What matters is learning from both. For Thinley, every race has become part of the process.
Representing Bhutan at the 4th SAAF Senior Athletics Championships in 2025, where he competed in the 10,000-metre track event, was another important milestone. Wearing the national colours and competing internationally gave him a deeper understanding of what it means to represent a country.
Every time he puts on the Bhutan jersey, he knows he is carrying more than his own ambitions. He is running for his country, for the people who support him and for everyone who believes that Bhutanese athletes can continue to go further. Whatever he has achieved so far, Thinley is quick to acknowledge, has never been his achievement alone.
He remains deeply grateful to the Bhutan Olympic Committee, Bhutan Amateur Athletics Federation, his coaches, teammates, family and friends who have supported him throughout his journey. There have been difficult training days, disappointing races and periods when progress felt slower than he wanted. Having people around him who continued to believe in him made those moments easier to overcome.
But athletics has also taught him that being an athlete is only one part of sport. As he became more involved in competitive athletics, Thinley began to understand the many elements that exist behind every competition. Coaches, administrators, federations, sports organisations, governance, safeguarding, sustainability and athlete development all play a role in determining how sporting communities grow.That realisation opened another path for him.
Through the Bhutan Olympic Committee and Bhutan Amateur Athletics Federation, Thinley learned about an opportunity to pursue a Master’s degree in Global Sports Sustainability and ESG Management at Kookmin University in Seoul, South Korea, through an Olympic Council of Asia scholarship.
In July 2026, the OCA announced the selection of eight athletes from across Asia for its scholarship programme in Korea, with Thinley selected from Bhutan. The programme provides athletes with an opportunity to pursue postgraduate education while developing knowledge and skills that can contribute to the wider sporting sector.
For Thinley, the opportunity meant much more than earning another academic qualification. He saw it as a chance to learn something that could eventually be brought back home.
His background in Finance and his experience as an athlete now meet in a completely different way. He is learning about sport from both sides, as someone who competes in it and as someone who wants to understand how sport can be developed, managed and sustained better.
The scholarship has also given him the opportunity to experience a completely different environment. It provides full support including tuition fees, accommodation, a one-way air ticket and a monthly stipend, an opportunity for which Thinley says he is extremely grateful.
Moving to Seoul brought another new chapter.
It has been only a short time since he arrived in South Korea, and his daily life is now divided between university and athletics. He trains in the morning and again in the evening or at night, following his coach’s training programme from Bhutan, while attending university classes in the afternoon.
At the same time, he is actively looking for suitable running competitions in South Korea where he can test himself, gain race experience and learn from other athletes.
For Thinley, competing in a new environment is not simply about chasing results. Every race offers something different, whether it is the conditions, the competitors, the pace or the pressure. Those experiences help him understand where he stands, identify areas that need improvement and continue developing as an athlete.
The first week in Seoul was not easy. The environment, university, schedule and lifestyle were all new, but he reminded himself why he had come. With support from professors, university staff and friends he met in Seoul, he gradually settled into his new surroundings.
Now, he is beginning to enjoy the experience and appreciate the opportunity to be exposed to a sporting environment very different from the one he has known in Bhutan.
And then came an experience he never imagined when he first decided to take running seriously.
Seeing the Asian Games from a Different Side
As part of his studies, Thinley is currently in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from 1 to 5 October 2026, on a field trip connected to his Master’s programme, giving him the opportunity to experience the 2026 Asian Games not as a competing athlete, but as an observer and spectator. For someone who has spent much of his life preparing to compete, watching the Asian Games from the stands has offered a completely different perspective. He has been attending matches, watching athletes compete and experiencing the atmosphere of one of Asia’s biggest sporting events, something he never imagined he would have the opportunity to do.
There is something special about seeing him experience the Games from the other side of the competition. Not long ago, he was a young Finance graduate in Bhutan who had only recently decided to take athletics seriously. Today, he is sitting among spectators at the Asian Games in Japan, watching athletes from across Asia compete at the highest level while learning about the organisation and management of major sporting events. For Thinley, this opportunity is closely connected to the support he has received through the Olympic Council of Asia scholarship. The OCA scholarship has not only opened the door for him to pursue postgraduate education in sports sustainability, but has also allowed him to experience the sporting world beyond his own competition. Being able to attend the Asian Games, watch different events and observe the environment around a major international sporting event has given him a perspective that cannot easily be gained from a classroom.
As an athlete, he naturally watches the competitions with the eyes of a competitor. He notices the performances, the preparation and the intensity of the athletes. At the same time, his studies have encouraged him to look at the Games differently, paying attention to how athletes and teams are supported, how competitions are managed, how sustainability is incorporated and how a major sporting event brings together sport, people and communities. For Thinley, this is another kind of classroom, only one that he never expected to find himself sitting in. He is grateful for the opportunity to be here, not only because he is witnessing athletes from across Asia compete, but because he is gaining an understanding of sport that he can carry with him long after the Games are over.
Being at the Asian Games as an observer and spectator may appear to be a small part of his larger journey, but for Thinley it represents something much more significant. It is a reminder of how far his life has travelled since he first decided to take running seriously in 2023, and how an opportunity created through sport can lead an athlete into places and experiences he once never imagined. His ambitions, however, remain firmly rooted in athletics. Thinley wants to become one of Bhutan’s leading middle- and long-distance runners. He wants to continue improving, compete at a higher level and one day represent Bhutan at the Olympic Games.
And his Olympic dream does not stop at participation. He dreams of competing for medals.
But his ambitions extend beyond his own athletic career. He wants to become a positive role model for young Bhutanese athletes and show them that it is possible to dream beyond what may seem possible today. His own journey is perhaps the clearest example of that belief. A young Finance graduate who had no certainty about where running would take him is now a national athlete studying sports sustainability in South Korea and experiencing the Asian Games in Japan. He also hopes to use the knowledge and experience he gains through his Master’s programme to contribute to the Bhutan Olympic Committee, Bhutan Amateur Athletics Federation and other sporting federations and associations in Bhutan.
There is much that can be done for the development of sport in Bhutan, and Thinley hopes that one day he can play a meaningful role in that development.
He is particularly interested in athlete safeguarding, sports development, sustainability and creating better opportunities for young athletes. For him, these are not simply academic subjects. They are areas that can have a direct impact on the lives and careers of athletes who come after him.
He believes sport can change lives because he has experienced that change himself. His journey began with a Finance degree and a decision to see how far he could go as a runner. That decision took him to the national team, international competition and eventually to South Korea, where he is now studying how sport can be made more sustainable and better managed. It has also taken him to Japan, where he is watching the Asian Games from the stands, learning from the athletes on the field while also observing everything that happens around them.
He does not know exactly where the road will take him next, and perhaps that uncertainty is part of what makes the journey worthwhile.
What he knows is that there is still much to learn, much to improve and much to give. For now, Thinley Lhendup continues to run, compete, study and observe, carrying Bhutan with him wherever the journey takes him. His journey is still being written, but every step, every kilometre and every lesson is taking him closer to the person and athlete he hopes to become.
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