At the time, Nukuri had already lost her father to the conflict, and she knew she would have no running career had she stayed in Burundi.

However, Nukuri spoke very little English, so she attended Butler County Community College in El Dorado, Kansas.

After two seasons at Butler, Nukuri transferred to the University of Iowa to work with coach Layne Anderson, who recruited Diane directly out of high school.

[citation needed] In her time at Iowa, Nukuri won two Big Ten Championships, in cross-country (2007) and the 5,000 meters in outdoor track (2008).

[citation needed] In her final collegiate race (the NCAA Championships, 10,000 meters), a major side stitch forced Nukuri into an early exit with only a few laps remaining while in second place.

She bettered her national record at the NYC Half Marathon in March 2013, narrowly finishing second to Caroline Rotich in a time of 1:09:12 hours.

Diane Nukuri represented Burundi once again at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August 2016, running the 10,000 meters.