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Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter
NATIONAL Athletics Association of Zimbabwe president Tendai Tagara feels the year 2022 came with improved fortunes as athletics recovered well post-Covid-19.
The association managed to post a number of achievements as an organisation and through individual athletes’ performances.
And last week’s double qualification of long-distance runner Isaac Mpofu for the 2024 Olympics in France, as well as the 2024 Budapest World Marathon, summed up a rewarding year for the association.
NAAZ became the first local association to have an athlete qualify for the Paris Games.
“We feel 2022 was a successful year. Generally, as an association we thought 2022 was a better performing season where we had better performance,” said Tagara.
Locally, the veteran administrator said securing sponsorship for a junior Championship set them up in the right direction.
The association went on to host numerous Championships that aimed at bringing athletes’ talent to the fore and providing opportunities for qualification times.
“For the first time, we had a sponsor for the National Junior Championship, Baldmin, that came to sponsor junior athletics. That was the first point of success for the association.
“We went on to host the National Senior Championship, Open Championship; we were able to host the National Cross Country and the Inter-Provincial Championship,” he said.
Tagara said they were also happy to welcome some sponsors back after a number of events were disrupted by Covid-19.
“A number of competitions were held and we are happy that a number of our major sponsors came back on the road after almost two years of a break because of Covid-19.
“We saw almost a stampede to host national road races, so as an association we are happy.
“Regionally, our athletes participated in quite a number of regional Championships in Botswana and Zambia.
“We were hoping to have five athletes at the World Junior Championship and we managed to have three athletes qualifying. Qualifying for the Junior Championship is a great achievement for many countries.
“Out of 214 countries you find less than 100 getting athletes who go there by qualification. Mainly, they go by sending representation, which is only where you send one athlete without qualifying. So we are happy as a federation we had athletes who qualified to go to Cali,” said Tagara.
However, it was not all rosy for the association which failed to host the NASH Championship.
“We failed to have support in terms of failing to host the NASH Championship, it was a great drawback in terms of performance for our athletes.
“We value the NASH Championship as one of the major events where we get our best juniors. So if that one fails to take place our athletes will have a problem in terms of qualification,” said Tagara.
NAAZ had athletes that put the country on the map with international representation.
Mpofu’s conquests at different meets across the globe and the Zimbabwe’s relay team triumph at the Africa Senior Championship in Mauritius in June, were the major highlights of the athletics season.
The 4x100m relay team composed of Dickson Kamungeremu, Ngoni Makusha, Denzel Siamulela and Tapiwa Makarawu won bronze in 39.81 seconds.
Tagara said it was a huge feat.
“We went on to participate in the Africa Senior Championship and were able to score a bronze medal in the 4x100m. It was an achievement that goes back to 2004; that was the last time we won a medal in the 4x100m, a gold medal in Congo Brazzaville,” said Tagara.
“If you look again we have been able to attend the World Championship in Oregon where Isaac Mpofu was placed number 10. That was the highest achievement in athletics in terms of the World champion marathon. If you look at it again the boy went on to set a national record in the marathon.
“Again outstanding was Isaac, posting another national record and that achievement coming within five months. That was an outstanding achievement, at the Valencia marathon.
“We are the first federation to have an athlete qualify for the 2024 Olympics. He has already qualified again for the Budapest 2024 World Championship.
So the trajectory for 2023 is okay,” said Tagara.
The 34-year-old Mpofu had an amazing performance at the 2022 Valencia Marathon in Spain early this month where he broke the national record for the second time this year.
Mpofu clocked 2 hours 6 minutes 48 seconds to finish a credible 12th in a strong field of 200 athletes. Before the European meet, he had raced at the World Athletics Championship in Oregon, United States in July and crossed the finishing line in 2 hours 7 minutes 57 seconds to finish 10th beating the previous record that stood at 2 hrs 9 minutes 52 seconds, set by Cuthbert Nyasango in 2014.
Mpofu participated in Oregon after NAAZ appealed following his disqualification at the Durban International Marathon in May.
He was disqualified for failing to wear a second bib at the back displaying licence number. He had crossed the line first in KwaZulu Natal, managing a qualifying time for the World Championships. But justice was served when NAAZ successfully appealed to Athletics South Africa, who had disqualified the athlete but later reinstated his time so that he could compete at the World meet.
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