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Ellina Mhlanga-Senior Sports Reporter
FORMER Zimbabwe Olympic Committee chief executive Robert Mutsauki launched his autobiography this week in another milestone for the veteran sports administrator.
The book, titled “My Life and Footprint, volume one”, was launched at ZOC’s headquarters in Belvedere, Harare on Wednesday.
It covers his life from when he was born in 1959 to the time he was elected Amateur Athletics Association of Zimbabwe president in 1993. Speaking during his presentation, Mutsauki said he wanted to tell the story of his life and share his knowledge and experiences.
“I think it’s always better to tell it yourself than to have somebody telling it… and to record for future generations so that at least there will be something on record.”
Mutsauki said while there are experienced and knowledgeable people in various aspects, the challenge is documenting it and passing it on to the next generation.
“That is the real challenge. But for me also this issue about inspiring the young generations is something that is important for me. I hope that I will be able to contribute to that.
“But I also feel people can learn from my experience and mistakes because I also made a number of mistakes which I can document and people can learn from that because you also learn from mistakes by others also because you can’t possibly learn from only your mistakes,” said Mutsauki.
He also shared some of the challenges he faced in writing the book, including finding a publisher as he said it could have been published in 2021 had things gone according to plan.
“You will find in the autobiography that I am not a perfect individual. Of course, the people who spoke here were very complimentary and all that. But I think I am honest enough to say that there are shortcomings, there are areas of improvement through life.
“A lot of some of the things will come in volume two because this volume one is just from 1959 when I was born up to 1993 when I have just been elected as president of the Amateur Athletics Association of Zimbabwe.
“So a lot of what you know about me has not been written yet. So I have just scratched the surface,” said Mutsauki.
Mutsauki said volume two will be out by the end of the year.
“I am very much aware that as soon as people finish reading volume one there will say where is volume two, when is it coming, so I am compelled to make a commitment today to say volume two will be published by the end of the year, whether I like it or not.”
The launch was attended by his former athletes he coached such as Fabian Muyaba, Gailey Dube, former colleagues including Anthony Mandiwanza, former ZOC president Admire Masenda, ZOC president Thabani Gonye and his two vice-president Fredreck Ndlovu and Letitia Chipandu, and acting chief executive Memory Pakati, friend Edward Siwela and his daughter Helen Mutsauki Zambuko and Sunday Mail Sports Editor Petros Kausiyo, among others.
Muyaba shared how he met Mutsauki and the impact he made in his career as an athlete.
“Many people think that here in Zimbabwe we do not have world class coaches, we do and that’s one man I can refer to.
“When I went to the United States it was all made up. Why? Because he built me to that, he took me out of my comfort zone and he put me out there where I needed to have courage and I needed to line up and not only represent my family but represent our beautiful country,” said Muyaba. Mandiwanza spoke about his experiences with Mutsauki and their journey together in sport including working together at the Sports Commission and during the Manchester Commonwealth Games, where the former served as the chef de mission and Mutsauki was the general manager also describing him as a disciplinarian.
Kausiyo saluted Mutsauki for the legacy he is leaving for future generations.
Also in attendance was Marième Ly, programmes manager at the Olympafrica International Foundation, who was on a visit to discuss how Zimbabwe can revive their Olympafrica Centre based at Prince Edward School after they had challenges since Covid-19.
Mutsauki, who also served as the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) technical director, is now an independent sports management consultant.
Online Reporter