Five athletes, who include the swimming duo of Donata Katai
and Peter Wetzlar, sprinter Ngoni Makusha, rower Peter Purcell-Gilpin and
golfer Scott Vincent, will carry the country’s banner in Tokyo, Japan, next
month.
With the exception of Purcell-Gilpin, who will represent
the country in the men’s singles scull event in rowing after actually
qualifying for the Games in 2019, and golfer Vincent, who is ranked 54th out of
the expected 60 golfers in the Olympic rankings, the other three are going to
Japan through universality slots.
Under the universality rule, National Olympics Committees
(NOC) may enter one male athlete and one female athlete, regardless of time, if
they have no athletes of that gender meeting the entry standard.
This makes it possible for every NOC to have a minimum of
two representatives in the sport, but the universality spots cannot be used in
combined events.
Zimbabwe received two universality slots from the
International Swimming Federation (Fina) for a male and a female, with the
World Athletics extending a slot that has been taken by South Africa-based
Makusha.
The last time Zimbabwe sent few athletes was the 2012
Olympics in London where they had three marathon runners Wirimayi Juwawo,
Cuthbert Nyasango and Sharon Tavengwa, the rowing pair of James
Fraser-Mackenzie and Micheen Thornycroft, Olympic gold medalist Kirsty Coventry
and Chris Felgate from triathlon.
At the last Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Zimbabwe had
31 athletes, with the bulk of them being members of the national women’s
football team. Six were from athletics and one each from equestrian and
archery.
These had all qualified through Olympic qualifying events. Zimbabwe
athletes’ failure to qualify for the Olympics via qualification events is quite
worrisome and experts blame this on lack of meaningful investment in athletes’
development.
This has also resulted in Zimbabwean athletes struggling
for podium finishes.
“Let us go back to the basics. Let us invest meaningfully
if we are serious about sports development and podium performances. One gold
medal will cost a country upwards of $1.2million over 10 000 hours (between
eight to 10 years). So, when we place targets for medals, we must also set
aside the requisite resources that go with the target. Emotions and passion
alone devoid of principles of the ecology of sports development and excellence
will bring us the same frustrations we have endured over the years,” said
experienced sports administrator Stanley Mutoya, who is chief executive officer
of the African Union Sports Council Region 5 Youth Games.
“Our yesteryear successes have been attained by a mixture
of good fortune and the rule of exception. Sadly, both bases are not
sustainable. That is why we continue to struggle to produce the Artwell
Mandazas, the Golden girls, the Kirsty Coventrys and Talkmore Nyonganis, to
name, but a few.”
Mutoya said Zimbabwe must look at striking a balance
between commercialising athletes and developing them, adding that the
Government must consider regulating player agents and managers.
“A lot of times the desire to sell athletes has seen the
composition of our national teams being compromised, as certain athletes are
being shepherded into the market with a carrot to be sold in Europe.
Ultimately, the quality of our national teams is heavily compromised. A
selection policy needs to be really considered and if in place, be reviewed,”
he said.
He also called for the revamping and linking of schools’
sport to mainstream sport.
“Within the schools’ sport sector itself, the relationship
between private and public schools sport needs to be regulated so that athletes
are selected on merit not financial endowment to represent the country. In
short, Zimbabwe needs a serious conversation in the development of a national
sports model that serves as a guide for all national sports associations. The
Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Ministry needs to be supported to expedite
the National Sports Strategy. National sports associations need to be
financially assisted to drive meaningful sports development and graduate from
being volunteer driven amateur to at least semi-professional entities,” Mutoya
said.
Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) commissioner Titus
Zvomuya said lack of scientific approach or a system for athletes’ selection,
talent identification and nurturing also has a bearing on the country’s poor
performances.
“Zimbabwe is yet to fully embrace the concept of sports
science. In order to achieve best possible sporting performance, we need to
take sports science seriously. Sports science allows us to evaluate, research,
assess and get scientific advice on coaching, training, competition, and
recovery practices in all areas and levels of sport. Our athletes are not
exposed to exercise physiology, biomechanics, motor control and motor
development, sports medicine and sports nutrition.
“We need to embrace sports science as a nation. This is
what we are currently focusing on as the National Sports Academy at Bindura
University of Science Education. Universities that offer sports science as an
academic subject at undergraduate, post graduate and doctorate levels like
Bindura University of Science Education and NUST must be fully capacitated and
fully made use of,” Zvomuya said.
Tendai Tagara, National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe
president, said Covid-19 affected athletes’ performances and their programmes.
He said they were now focusing on getting athletes to
qualify for the 2022 World Championships this year.
Tagara lamented the country’s loss of talented junior
athletes that vanish from the spotlight once they take up scholarships
overseas.
“Our challenge is that as soon as we have quality juniors, they are snapped up by universities abroad. The universities don’t develop world class athletes, but are concerned on positioning in the National Collegiate Athletic Association leagues. The time we request that those athletes come for global events, they will be tired. That side, they have everything, coaches, facilities and nutritionists.
“What we should do is develop a home-grown solution like
what Botswana and South Africa have done. This means the Government through the
SRC must have a deliberate strategy to fund sport, while corporates complement
Government like what other countries are doing,” said Tagara.
The National Association of Secondary School Heads (Nash)
president Arthur Maphosa said: “I think we are missing the link between schools
and clubs where a lot of potentially good athletes fall off after completion of
primary school and secondary school to the club system. Zimbabweans need to
understand that sport is another career option which pays far more than
academics if nurtured well. There is need to educate all the people involved in
sport, be it teachers, parents and learners, because sport is now an industry
and its appreciation can help our nation produce world class athletes.
“As Nash, we always instill high level of competitiveness
in all our events. Nash has gone on to support and enforce the inclusion of sport
studies, with subjects like Sports Science, Sport Management to help our
learners see the importance of sport in life.” Chronicle
0 comments:
Post a Comment