adminZimbabwe Olympic Committee chief executive officer Annah Mguni confirmed this yesterday.
The Zimbabwe team was in action in Talahassee, Florida, on 23 March and finished second and clocked a time of 39.76 seconds.
“The athletes will be back in action this weekend. They had an opportunity to run on 23 March. It might not have been the best Zimbabwean athletes for the event, it boiled down to who was available that time to run for the country and we facilitated their travel and accommodation,” said Mguni from Harare yesterday.
She said she was happy with the time they had run and felt they could still do better.
“Yes, the time could be improved, there is a race this weekend in which they are taking part and we hope they will do much better and stay in contention for at least a top 12 slot ahead of the Olympics among the bidding nations,” said Mguni.
Brian Dzingai, Ngoni Makusha, a medal hopeful in the long jump event, Gabriel Mvumvure and Paul Madzivire were available for the first assignment.
This weekend two other sprinters of note, Marvin Bonde and Anthony Hobwana, are expected to be available for the race and could replace Dzingai and Madzivire as
they have previously posted better times in the shorter sprint in recent years.
The team is under the watchful eyes of national 400m hurdles record holder Kenneth Harden, a coach who has made his mark in the US.
“The National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe with whom we have had a cordial working relationship on this gave thumbs up to the athletes working with Harden. They are in safe hands,” said Mguni.
Zimbabwe’s 39.76 seconds is the 28th best time among teams that have competed in the event in the world under conditions that the International Athletics Association of Federations (IAAF) approves. The list is dominated by universities and colleges in the US.
Only teams from the US, Canada, Australia, Jamaica and Zimbabwe feature on the top list published by the IAAF website yesterday.
The country has a realistic chance to qualify but that will depend on athletes’ availability and the number of quality events they take part in.
Online Reporter