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Ellina Mhlanga
Senior Sports Reporter
NATIONAL Athletics Association of Zimbabwe director of coaching, talent identification, and development Lisimati Phakamile says they have come up with a roadmap that will guide their steps towards the next edition of the Olympic Games.
The national athletics’ mother body recently held a review meeting of the Paris Games in Harare with coaches from different departments — jumps, sprints, long and middle-distance — attending, as well as the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee.
The meeting saw the coaches going through the report from the Games, the highs and lows from pre-competition preparation, financial implications, camps, and the positives, as they brainstormed to come up with the template to guide them for the next four years.
Their immediate major competitions begin next year with the World Athletics Relays due to take place in May, in China and the World Championships scheduled for September in Tokyo, Japan. “The report also contained the Olympic Games’ camp, when our athletes were in camp, the performances, the camp situation, and everything, and also the post-camp or post-games report was contained in that Olympics review document.
“We also went on to look at the World Relays that are coming up and the Tokyo World Championships set for 2025.
“The coaches did sit down, and they came up with a roadmap. They identified athletes, designed training pro-grammes and plans on how we can get to the podium or qualify for the World Relays in China, and also for our athletes to qualify for World Championships in Tokyo.
“We had a lot of positives coming up.
We are quite excited with the calibre and the quality of athletes that we are producing from the plans and the preparations that we are doing.
“We also looked at some lows, where we could not achieve or attain our desired outcome due to financial constraints, due to other constraints that include infrastructural, personnel . . . All those other specialists that we need to have in preparation of athletes for major competitions.”
The national association is pushing for relay teams — both men and women and a mixed relay team. For the World Championships, Phakamile said they are looking at six athletes qualifying.
So far United States-based sprinter Tapiwanashe Makarawu has qualified for next year’s world meet.
“For World Championships we are looking at, at least six athletes to qualify. That’s my dream number though. But we are saying, already Makarawu has qualified because of the final event in Paris. So, we need five more.
“So, we are simply saying that Zimbabwe coaches and our coaches that are abroad know our goal. They understand our agenda and our plea. We have spoken to them; we speak to them, and they understand what we want. So they are helping us as much as they can.
“We now have a roadmap, we have a document, that is going to help guide us on our milestones and guidelines. That’s what we wanted and we felt that we needed to do it earlier and fast. “This document is meant to guide us to Los Angeles 2028.
“Yes we will adjust it and panel bit it as we go but we have told ourselves that from now to the next four years, it’s our time and we should make sure that we start as early as possible.
Some of the coaches that attended the meeting include Benson Chauke, Aaron Whyte, Silas Muringani, Mavhuto Tumba, Cuthbert Nyasango, and Tabitha Tsatsa.
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