Online Reporter
Lovemore Dube, Zimpapers Sports Hub
THE National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe president, Tendai Tagara is upbeat that Zimbabwe will send over 10 athletes to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
He said in an interview on Monday that preparations for the massive sporting show started this year, a season in which Zimbabwe athletes were there at the top with the world’s best.
The Olympics will return to Los Angeles, 44 years after sprinter Carl Lewis stole the show winning the 100 and 200m sprints and the long jump, with Daley Thompson king of the decathlon.
Tagara’s wish for 2028 to see bigger representation by the athletics contingent is drawn from great performances by Tapiwanashe Makarawu and Makanakaishe Charamba in the 200m in which both were in the world’s best nine athletes at the World Athletics Championships and topped the indoor scene with dual times of 20.13 seconds to end the year as the best.
Isaac Mpofu was 10th in the World Championships marathon event while Takudzwa Chiyangwa is ranked 10th in the 300m after running the distance in a national record time of 32.38 seconds.
Chengetai Mapaya with his 17,15m in the triple jump was 17th overall in the world in 2025.
Tagara believes the good performances at the World Championships where Zimbabwe sent seven athletes, had them set the bar high for future events.
“We set a bar, come 2028 we don’t want to have less than 10 athletes at Los Angeles. The journey to 2028 must begin now, in actual fact it started this year,” said Tagara.
As part of the 2028 onslaught Tagara wants Zimbabwe to take part in the 2026 World Relays Championships to be hosted by Botswana.
To that end, Brian Dzingai, a former 200m holder and the first Zimbabwean athlete to reach the final of the Olympics has been appointed project manager of the Zimbabwe 4x100m relay team to be made up of athletes to be drawn from the United States of America.
“We must go to Botswana with 4x100m, we have to make sure athletes in America run a 4×100, we have spoken to SRC, the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee that we need to have them run in the US,” said Tagara.
He said they have set a budget of US$20 000 to enable Dzingai to assemble six sprinters for the 4x100m bid and Tagara believes in a race or to, they will run the qualifying standards.
“We are in the process of talking to corporates, or they can deal directly with the project manager, Dzingai, we think US$20 000 will be enough for six athletes and physiotherapist to get together and run,” said Tagara.
He believes Zimbabwe’s best chance lies in the Penn Relays, a prestigious American event that brings together top athletes.
“We can have them run in the last Saturday of the Penn Relays when America runs against the rest of the world,” said the Naaz president.
Charamba, Makarawu, Denzel Siamusalela, Takudzwa Chiyangwa, David Nyamufarira and Clinton Muunga could be in the shortlist of the relay team.
Tagara said the 4x400m to consist of locally based athletes will be taken to regional competitions to try and qualify.
The Naaz boss said they will seek Government support all the way and is happy that at the Tokyo, Japan held World Championships in September there was good and visible Government representation.
The Permanent Secretary in the Sports Ministry and other Government officials were in Japan to cheer the team.
“We are happy as association that it was one of the best performances at the World Championships, it was the first time that in over 30 years that Government followed the team. That was great and Permanent Secretary Nicholas Moyo was accompanied by senior Government officials. I salute Moyo for visiting us, it was great encouragement,” said Tagara.
He said the Government delegation had exposure on how to host big competitions and also interact with other sports principals.
