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Ellina Mhlanga Senior Sports Reporter
ROWING Association of Zimbabwe have expressed excitement following Stephen Cox’s qualification for Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Africa Olympic Qualification Regatta (AOQR)/Africa Rowing Championships held this week in Tunisia.
Cox qualified to compete in the Men’s Single Scull rowing event (M1x) at the Olympic Games due to take place from July 26 to August 11 next year.
RAZ president Andrew Lorimer said they are pleased with the qualification.
“RAZ is delighted that a Zimbabwean rower has been able to qualify for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, with Zimbabwean rowers consistently qualifying for the Summer Olympics from the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics until now.
“RAZ appreciates the support given by the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee to help our Zimbabwean athletes prepare for Paris 2024.
“RAZ is delighted with this qualification and we hope that it will encourage more Zimbabweans to take up rowing,” said Lorimer.
Cox completed the A final, (2000m distance) in fourth position, in a time of 7minutes 25seconds to secure his place at the Olympics.
The event served as an Olympic qualifier and continental championships. The top five athletes qualified for the Olympics, with the first three also taking the medals in the Africa Rowing Championships.
In first place were Egypt in a time of 7minutes 1second, followed by Tunisia in second position in a time of 7minutes 6seconds and Algeria were third posting a time of 7minutes 13seconds.
“These are good and competitive international class racing times,” Lorimer said.
Zimbabwe also had twin brothers Patrick and Rory Plunket, racing in the Men’s Light Weight Double Scull event (LM2x) but missed qualification competing against Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria.
They finished fourth in 4minutes 49seconds. Only the winning boat in this event qualified for the Olympic Games while the first three boats got medals in the Africa Championships.
Egypt won the race in a time of 6minutes 36seconds, while Tunisia came second in a time of 6minutes 40seconds.
Algeria came third in a time of 6 minutes and 44 seconds.
The Plunket brothers still have another chance to try and qualify for the Games if they decide to take part in the final qualifier scheduled for next year in May.
“The Plunket brothers will now need to decide whether they will train to compete at the final Olympic Qualification Regatta in Europe in May 2024, where there are two final qualification spots for Paris 2024 in the LM2x event,” said Lorimer.
The just ended regatta in Tunisia attracted 165 athletes from 20 countries – Algeria, Angola, Benin, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Sudan, Togo, Tunisia Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Tunisia had the largest team of 32 athletes, followed by Egypt with 29 and Algeria had 24 while Zimbabwe had one of the smaller teams fielding three athletes.
The RAZ president acknowledged the Tunisian Rowing Federation and World Rowing for organising the combined Africa Olympic Qualification Regatta/Africa Rowing Championships.
“World Rowing must be complimented on the way in which they have encouraged participation at this regatta from a number of African countries that have not competed at an event such as this before.
“We need stronger rowing competition in Africa and this will be good for Zimbabwe rowing, although it does mean that future support from World Rowing will be targeted increasingly at the development of newer rowing countries in Africa rather than at more developed rowing countries such as Zimbabwe.
“Countries such as Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria must be commended for the significant improvement in the standard of their rowers on the back of financial support for the development of rowing in these countries by their respective Sports Ministries.
“Zimbabwe will need to make a similar investment if it wants to remain competitive in the sport of Rowing within Africa.”
Online Reporter