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Lovemore Dube, Sports Editor
ZIMBABWE athletes have found the going tough as they are failing to make a big impression on the world scene.
Even in South African marathons, Zimbabwe has not been the powerful force it was in the past and all hopes are now pinned on winning the City to City and Soweto Marathons.
With the sport’s profile having risen to good levels since the last decade in which sprinters and long distance runners shone, and field events have come off the blocks, so much was expected this year.
Only three athletes feature in the best performers list compiled by the International Association of Athletics Federations.
The list is drawn from hundreds of events held so far in the world where standards have been met. At those competitions there would be electronic timers and wind gauges and qualified personnel to authenticate the records.
Gabriel Mvumvure ran his best over the 100m a blistering 9.98 seconds on 8 June in the US. His effort is the 12th best time of the year and was good enough to qualify him for the World Championships set for Russia next month.
With the qualifying standard for that competition 10.15 seconds, he qualified with ease and is expected to at least reach the semi-finals against a world class field. Mvumvure became the third Zimbabwean to run the 100m under 10 seconds with national record holder Ngoni Makusha’s 9.89 seconds still standing out.
The other man is the legendary Artwell Mandaza whose 1969 effort was said to have been wind assisted but what stands out is that he was the first man to rub below the barrier regardless of wind effects.
It was to take almost two decades before a new crop of athletes ran a sub 10 seconds 100m.
Cephas Pasipamire is the other runner who is appearing in the IAAF top list with a time of 2 hours 16 minutes 15 seconds which is good enough to qualify him for the World Championships.
He achieved that on 14 April in North Korea and benefited from IAAF’s lowering of the qualifying mark from 2 hours 15 minutes to 2 hours 18 minutes according to National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe president Tendai Tagara.
Long jumper Ngoni Makusha completes the trio of outstanding Zimbabwean athletes in the world.
His 21 May third place finish with a leap of 8.04m made him among the world’s best.
He was unfortunate not to qualify for the World Championships when his good jump of 8.20m was condemned as having been wind assisted.
Makusha and Mvumvure represent the last of probably the finest sprinters the country has had.
National 400m record holder Lewis Banda, Nelton Ndebele, Marvin Bonde all seem to have slowed down and prospects of the country assembling a relay team that can stand its own in the continent and other world events seem to have been blown away.
Naaz will have to invest in local competitions and avoid partisan appointments for national assignments.
Online Reporter
derick.khumalo