Mujaji establishes athletics academy

Lovemore Dube Senior Sports Editor
FORMER Paralympic gold medallist Elliot Mujaji has decided to give back to a sport that gave him fame and took him to the world’s major cities. In an interview yesterday, Mujaji, an amputee on the arm, said he was establishing an academy with a view to reviving the sport in the Midlands.

“I’ll be going to meet officials at an embassy in Harare on Wednesday to discuss a possible partnership or sponsorship. We want to turn a new leaf in Midlands athletics and plough back what we learnt to youngsters,” said Mujaji.

The former sprinter, who clocked a personal best of 10.91 seconds in the 100m and 21.88 seconds in the 200m in the Paralympians, capping it up with gold medals in the Sydney Paralympics and World Championships in 2002 and 2004, said he was working with former greats.

Their project will be based at Maglas Stadium in Zvishavane.

“We’re coming together as former athletes here in Zvishavane to give back to the community. We hope our initiative will bear fruit. We want to revive athletics for sure and take it to another level,” said Mujaji.

The Midlands was a powerhouse in the sport with communities in Redcliff, Gaths Mine, Peak Mine (Shurugwi), Gweru, Kwekwe and Shabanie crazy about athletics and filling stadia to the rafters.

Mujaji disclosed that veteran administrator William Chuwa, former roadrunner and champion Kudakwashe Shoko and sprinter Jeffrey Wilson, would be part of the coaching panel.

Shoko quit athletics due to an injury at a time he should have been one of the country’s top 42km athletes.

For Wilson, age eventually caught up with him but he will go down as one of the Chamber of Mines greats.

Mujaji lost his arm when he was struck by live electric current in 1998.

That, however, did not deter him from pursuing his dream sport.

At the time of the incident, he was one of the country’s top 400m runners.

Of late he has been working with the Midlands Youth Games team as sprints coach.

Mujaji said their academy will also cater for those living with disabilities.

“We’ll cater for both categories. It would be unfair to concentrate on one and leave the other. Both are priorities and need our coaching,” he said.