admin
Collin Matiza
Sports Editor
SEASONED sports administrator, Robert Mutsauki, says Fabian Muyaba could have easily become one of the best sprinters in the world had his promising career not been curtailed by injuries.
Mutsauki spotted, and nurtured, Muyaba when he was a schoolboy at Churchill High School in the late ‘80s.
It was under the veteran sports administrator’s tutelage that Muyaba became one of the fastest men in Africa, if not in the world, during that period.
Mutsauki took Muyaba under his wing at ZRP Athletics Club where he turned him into a star sprinter.
This saw Muyaba, a 100 and 200m specialist, representing Zimbabwe at the then Zone Six Championships in 1987, where he won three gold medals at the age of 17.
He followed this up by harvesting two more golds and a silver, at the same championships, the following year, to announce his arrival on the grand stage.
Muyaba was then picked to represent Zimbabwe, at the World Junior Championships, held in Sudbury, Canada in July 1988, where he zipped into the final of the men’s 100m final and finished eighth, with a good time of 10.85 seconds.
He also reached the semi-finals of the 200m event at Sudbury.
Two months later, Muyaba found himself in Team Zimbabwe, for the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games in South Korea where he was, unfortunately, knocked out in the men’s 200m event. He also failed to reach the final of the men’s 100m race at the same Games.
But, the best was yet to come for Muyaba, who then grabbed headlines in June 1989 when he broke the legendary Artwell Mandaza’s men’s 200m record, with a time of 20.74 seconds, at the National Sports Stadium in Harare during the Zimbabwe Senior Athletics Championships.
And after that phenomenal achievement, Muyaba was destined for the stars and it came as no surprise when Blinn College of Texas, United States, came calling and offered him an athletics scholarship in January 1991.
Muyaba was to spend the next 25 years based in the United States, only for him to slip quietly back into Zimbabwe, towards the end of 2019.
On Thursday, he told The Herald that he was still involved in athletics and wants to help upcoming Zimbabwean sprinters to get scholarships in the USA.
And his former coach, Mutsauki, said yesterday he was fully behind his (Muyaba’s) initiative to help young Zimbabwean track and field athletes to get scholarships in the United States.
Mutsauki also said that he feels Muyaba, and another former top Zimbabwean track star Philemon Hanneck, failed to realise their full potential through injuries.
“The athletics project that he (Muyaba) wants to embark on is a commendable one and in giving back to the athletics community he has my full support.
“He was one of my very promising proteges. While he achieved a lot, it is unfortunate that he did not realise his full potential partly because of injuries.
“Fabian and the likes of Philemon Hanneck (Harineki) were among pioneer scholarship athletes in the NCAA in the United States and they had to deal with a number of challenges.
‘’It is, therefore, pleasing to see some of our athletics legends reaching out to talented young Zimbabwean athletes with a view to help them realise their dreams,” Mutsauki said.
Muyaba has also got the backing of fellow Olympian and former long-distance runner, Abel Chimukoko, who is now a Sports Director of the Zimbabwe Republic Police.
Meanwhile, Hanneck, just like Muyaba, has also indicated that he has already approached a number of colleges in the United States, asking them to offer scholarships to underprivileged athletes from Zimbabwe.
Speaking recently to The Herald, Hanneck, who is based in Florida, said the colleges he approached are Purdue University, University of Texas in El Paso and El Paso Community College.
“I have been working to assist Kevin Chiku from Marondera and Faith Nyathi from Plumtree and they have already secured their scholarships but can’t fly to the United States at the moment due to coronavirus.
‘’They were supposed to be here by May last year,” Hanneck said.
Online Reporter