Born in Khartoum, Sudan, Bol's mother Hanan Kuku is Sudanese of Nubian ethnicity, and his father Abdalla Bol is an ethnic Dinka from the region that is now South Sudan.[3][4][5] His family fled the Second Sudanese Civil War when he was four.[6] In 2016, it was falsely reported that his family lived in an Egyptian refugee camp before emigrating to Australia.[7] Bol has stated that "despite what some people have said and written, we never lived in a refugee camp."[8][9]
At the age of eight, Bol arrived in Toowoomba, Queensland.[6] He grew up in Perth and attended St Norbert College[4] on a basketball scholarship.[5] In 2017, Bol completed a degree in construction management at Curtin University.[4][5] He briefly worked as an engineer prior to signing an Adidas contract in 2018, and has since also completed a business course at the University of Melbourne.[3]
Athletics career
Bol was a promising basketballer in Perth, Western Australia. When he was 16, a teacher at St Norbert College suggested he try 800 metres running after a promising cross-country race.[4]
At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Bol came first in his semi-final with a personal best time of 1:44:11. He then came fourth in the final, missing out on a bronze medal by 0.53 s.
In January 2023, it was announced that Bol had been provisionally suspended by Athletics Australia after failed out-of-competition doping test, with the test showing signs of syntheticEPO.[13][14] His suspension was lifted the following month because his B sample returned an atypical finding (ATF) for EPO, though Sport Integrity Australia continued its investigation.[15] In August 2023, Bol was officially cleared by Sports Integrity Australia.[16]
Personal life
Bol became engaged to Mahtut Yaynu in March 2024. They have a daughter, born in October 2024.[17]
