Online Reporter
Zimpapers Sports Hub
EXCITING times lie ahead for Zimbabwe’s Nadine Taderera! This comes on the backdrop of her selection for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Young Leaders Programme.
The IOC Young Leaders programme, incepted in 2016, empowers talents to leverage the power of sport to make a positive difference in their communities.
Twenty-five Young Leaders are selected every two years for a four-year period.
The IOC this past week announced the 25 new IOC Young Leaders selected for 2025 to 2028, and Taderera is among them.
The selected candidates will embark on a four-year journey to create grassroots sport-based initiatives aimed at addressing social issues in their communities.
According to the IOC, the launch of this new cohort saw an unprecedented level of interest, with a remarkable 5,270 young people from 169 countries and territories registering for the first phase of selection.
IOC president Thomas Bach said the huge number of applicants reflects the importance of the programme.
“The selection of these 25 exceptional young leaders from diverse backgrounds underscores our commitment to empowering the next generation to build a better world through sport.
“The record number of applicants highlights how young people globally recognise the important role of sport in society.”
The young people will work to develop innovative projects aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Through this programme, they will receive resources that include expert guidance and coaching, access to an extensive sport and sport-for-development network, and seed funding of US$10,000, which will help them turn their ideas into impactful and sustainable initiatives.
Zimbabwe Olympic Committee president Thabani Gonye said they are looking forward to working with Taderera.
“I was very excited that at least we have a young leader that will also be involved in the next quadrennial in that programme, in particular for a community.
“I am very happy for Nadine (Taderera). I look forward to her meeting her dreams and doing what she can do to make that programme a success.
“I did look at the (project), basically the synopsis of it is that she wants to create an area where she can create a jogging arena or area, within the community where women and those that are jogging in their community can actually be safe.
“And she wants to create that terrain that would actually create that platform of safety.
“And obviously, starting from violence and women being safe, and being able to carry out the activity that they do, like when they are jogging or walking within the community.”
The selection process for this edition was launched in September, last year through the #ApplyNow campaign.
It attracted 5 270 young people from 169 countries, who registered for the initial four-week learning sprint.
