Kosovo athletes to fly the flag with pride in Rio

Kosovo's 800 metre runner Musa Hajdari and his team mate 400 metres runner Vijona Kryeziu exercise in the woods of the village Rogane in Kamenica, Kosovo, July 30, 2016. The runners train in the woods because there was no athletics stadium nearby. The Rio Games will be the first to host athletes competing under the flag of Kosovo. REUTERS/Hazir Reka

ROGANE, Kosovo (Reuters) - Kosovo's 400 metres runner Vijona Kryeziu has been training for the Olympic Games in the mountains around her native village of Rogane, fulfilling a dream that until recently seemed impossible to many of her country's athletes.

The Rio Games will be the first to host athletes competing under the flag of Kosovo, which proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008, nine years after a NATO bombing campaign to drive Serbian forces from its territory.