Editorial Comment: A FLICKER OF LIGHT IN OUR SPORT

LAST night, for the first time in our 44 years of performance at the Olympic Games, two Zimbabwean sprinters featured in the final of a track event.

Makanakaishe Charamba and Tapiwanashe Makarawu featured in the 200m final in Paris last night.

It marked the first time in 16 years that a Zimbabwean athlete has featured in the final of a track event at the Olympics.

The last one was Brian Dzingai who finished fourth in the 200m finals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Dzingai initially finished sixth but after two disqualifications he ended up in fourth place, just one slot outside the medals.

Had he picked a medal, he would have made history as the first Zimbabwean athlete to win a track event medal at the Olympics.

Dzingai’s 200m national record, which stood for over two decades, was eventually shattered by Makarawu.

Both Makarawu and Charamba have been fine-tuning their talents at United States colleges.

It’s such a lovely feeling just to know that among the eight best 200m athletes in the world today, we have two young Zimbabweans who are just starting their journey in these trenches.

What is not in dispute is that the two sprinters will get better with time and their expected development should give us a chance, going forward, of winning a medal in 200m at the Olympics.

For us, it’s all that matters.

We are humbled as a national newspaper to be covering such success stories of our sportsmen who are making their presence felt on the biggest stage of them all.

We have been impressed by their fearlessness and their commitment to serve their country with distinction. We have also noted that there are some positive things which are happening in our sport.

Yes, football remains a concern and its progress, once again, is being hindered by poor administrators who do not understand that they are supposed to provide true leadership.

That is why we find ourselves bottom of the table in our 2026 World Cup qualifying group.

ZIFA have just appointed a new coach, Michael Nees, from Germany but he appears too lightweight to be the Messiah we have been crying for to transform our Warriors into winners.

But the perennial problems in football should not distract us from the positive developments that are happening in other sporting disciplines.

We have already seen the progress that is happening in our rugby.

The Sables recently won the Rugby Africa Cup after dominating the tournament in Uganda.

Our boys even beat their nemesis Namibia in one of the games with a ruthless performance which overpowered the Namibians.

One can tell that the Sables are benefiting from having a very good coach who is transforming them into winners again.

We have been told that the team is now targeting to recruit good players like Wallaby centre Kyle Godwin, Gareth Evans, who has starred in New Zealand and Benetton loch Eli Snyman to boost the team for the 2027 Rugby World Cup qualification.