dyton mupawaenda
THE Olympics are the pinnacle of every sportsperson’s endeavours.
They are the biggest and highest level of any competition bringing the best there is in over 40 disciplines to compete during a chosen period.
Zimbabweans will in the next six months be all ears and eyes as to who will make the grade to represent the country at the Paris Olympic Games to be held in France next year.
As always athletics draws the biggest television audiences during the Games. Like in every other expectation are always that the country can apart from other disciplines send more athletes from athletics one of the Olympic Games highlights.
It is every Zimbabwean’s Dream to see some day athletics land the country a medal at that level.
To date a fourth finish at the Beijing Olympics by Ngoni Makusha remains the closest Zimbabwe has gotten to winning a medal.
The long jumper was a few centimetres from a bronze medal and it is a result the nation should have built on for the future but a decade and a half after that feat, the country finds itself with no legacy benefit from his epic 8,21m leap in China which he would years later improve to a national record of 8,40m.
In the hunt for representation next year, Zimbabwe already has one athlete with his ticket secured in Isaac Mpofu, the national marathon record holder. He has been in blistering form in the last two years and with the Games seven months away, a meticulous training programme that takes him to conditions near what Paris will be should be considered on his path.
He may just run one standard marathon in between so that his condition going into the Games is at its best ever. There he will be up with the best there is in the sport in the world.
Zimbabwe has hopes not just in representation but in quality in a number of athletes whose times are not far off the world mark. What is important is what Arthletics Zimbabwe will do with them in the run up to the championships.
Two questions come into mind.
Will they be afforded good opportunities to qualify?
Once they have qualified will our view as Zimbabwe be that they are just going there to represent or to try and win?
Tapiwa Makarawu, Makanakaishe Charamba, Clinton Muunga and Takudzaishe Chiyangwa are Zimbabwe’s hopefuls to make it to the Games in the sprints.
Their times this year have not been far off the mark.
With June 30, 2024 the cut off time for them to qualify, it is important their season is structured in way that benefits themselves, colleges and country.
They should have enough energy to qualify for the Olympics and be able to be great representatives of their universities so that they retain their scholarships.
While those two are attainable, with the Olympics coming at the end of the American universities athletics calendar, their college coaches and Zimbabwe’s must look at the broader achievement.
Olympic medals will not only be good for the athletes but the country and university too.
Often these Games come after the athletes would have burnt themselves out in college sport and now on off-season. There will be still be so much to break a sweat for, a medal in the Olympics, sport’s ultimate sporting glory outside the individual sport’s World Cup or Championships.
Makarawu’s season best in the 100m distance was 10,05 seconds. With better training on the track and psyching he would with ease make it among the world’s best 56 and start off in the heats in Paris.
He needs to run below the 10.00 seconds barrier to qualify.
As of yesterday he was 64th in the world over the distance.
Charamba is another athlete with the right pedigree to do better and book himself a place at the Games as he posted a 10,15 seconds 100m for his second best among Zimbabweans.
Plumtree star Muunga ran a third best 100m when clocking 10,22 seconds. He is pressed to chew 0,22 seconds to make the grade having run the 145th best time of 2023.
Makarawu is Zimbabwe’s best sprinter for 2023 as he tops the standings among his countrymen having clocked 20,10 seconds in the 200m which is within the 20,16 seconds limit for those bidding to qualify.
With 48 qualifying for the event, with a time of 20,10 seconds and world position of 27 in 2023, Takudzaishe Chiyangwa having run 20,20 seconds to position himself 41st, Zimbabwe’s athletes have it within their grasp to compete with the best at the world’s premier sports competition.
Tino Matiyenga, who had a 20,70 seconds 200m, cannot be discounted as a worthy athlete. He could come in handy in the 4x100m relay team in which the best 16 times of all nations would be considered.
The challenge is upon Athletics Zimbabwe to ensure these athletes run at international events in order to qualify as individuals and as a team in the 4x100m. All have the potential from a motion start to clock sub 10 seconds 100m stretches to give Zimbabwe a 38 second 4x100m and secure Olympic representation.
Having numbers in athletics is good PR for the sport as it may excite more kids to take to the discipline and improve their lives while putting Zimbabwe on the map.
Athletes can only do so much but the association, corporate world and Government can be handy in seeing to it that these athletes are afforded resources to qualify and compete at the highest level knowing that their education and welfare needs are taken care of.
Online Reporter