Online Reporter
Ellina Mhlanga-Zimpapers Sports Hub
ZIMBABWE Olympic Committee president Thabani Gonye says the Olympic Solidarity Scholarship Programme gives them somewhere to start in supporting athletes towards qualification for the next Games, but there is need for more initiatives.
ZOC recently announced nine recipients for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Solidarity Scholarships, with athletes mainly drawn from athletics, swimming, tennis and triathlon.
The nine beneficiaries are athletes Tendai Zimuto, Tapiwanashe Makarawu, Makanakaishe Charamba, Vimbayi Maisvorewa and Ashley Miller Kamangirira. Benjamin Lock (tennis), Andie Kuipers (triathlon), Anje Van As and Paige Van Der Westhuizen (swimming) complete the list.
“The nine athletes are part of our bigger possible squad of 30+ for LA2028.
“And thanks to the OS Scholarships for planting the seed with this grant, they now have the fuel to match their fire for coaching needs, training needs, nutrition needs, medical support and international exposure,” he said.
“There is no more dreaming from the sidelines for a kick start! Small as it may be, it gives us a start to be complemented with supplementary support!”
Outside the scholarships, ZOC are also looking at other sources of support such as the activities grants and team support grants, which they activate on a case-by-case basis to support other athletes that have shown potential and are within the qualification range.
Speaking on the return in terms of athletes that eventually qualify after getting the scholarships, Gonye underscored the need to complement the investment for optimum results.
“When we speak about what we are putting on as a seed, I always believe in a seed analogy, where you say if you plant a seed, you expect a harvest, isn’t it?
“It’s the quality of the seed you put on the ground and then it is the quality of the nurturing that comes with the seed,” said Gonye.
“When I was actually speaking about our support, is it enough, my answer is no. It’s probably one-tenth of what we should be putting in for us to then get a return.
“This is just to kick-start. So, when we even talk about the athletes that we support, even in the previous or current year going forward, the investment is not enough for us to then expect a fair return.
“Because if you are supporting in terms of the actual needs that the athletes have, we are only just scratching the surface for us to get the full return.
“We need to capitalise on what we are putting on the ground, that’s the first part.”
Athletics has the biggest chunk of beneficiaries, and two of the athletes — Makarawu and Charamba — were part of Team Zimbabwe at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The US-based sprinters reached the men’s 200m final.
Gonye conceded sprints is one area they are focusing on, their road to LA, and there is a number of athletes currently doing well.
And would want to build on their approach to Paris, when they involved former athletes to assist with the sprints project.
“Coming out of Paris, I think I always want to use Paris and say that’s a model. We were very clear about how we worked with Paris leading there.
“We had Brian Dzingai, we had Kenneth Harnden, who were working with our diaspora athletes.
“We can see that there’s opportunities in sprints, which even if you look at our results and I remember when the team was also submitting that, and I was doing my own checks, there are about six to eight top sprinters right now.
“Some are running 10.01, some are running 10.2 . . . And one of our strategies, very clearly, is that we have already intimated to our possible partners, even the Ministry, that we need to support about eight to 10 sprinters so that we have a relay project for the 4x100m and 4x400m.
“And then we talk about the marathon.
“In the last few Olympics, we invested and had a group of marathoners that were in camp that were also being looked after by coach Ben Chauke, and we believe that’s a low-hanging fruit because we already now can pick a niche of where we are stronger,” said Gonye.
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