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MARYLAND — A public banner in 1995 at a street corner in Bulawayo advertising one of Zimbabwe’s top athletics events the Merlin Marathon changed the life of a then 23-year-old novice runner, Winneth Dube.
At that time, she had not competed in any professionally-organised marathon in her life, save for some school events when she was at Silveira Mission, Masvingo province.
Dube’s mother was quick to dismiss her interest in participating in the prestigious Merlin Marathon.
“My mother looked at me and said, ‘You know, marathons are not for day dreamers and how do you participate in such a big event when you have not been training.’”
She had just completed her secondary education and had not shown interest in participating in professional athletics events.
“I did some competitions but I was not really so much interested in it despite the fact that everybody always told me that I was talented. I was good at running, I could compete, it wasn’t really very difficult for me to partake in any formal sport, and when I left high school I wasn’t really interested.
“I didn’t have any plans of actually doing any form of competition, or knowing that I was going to be an elite athlete or something like that.
“I think I remember my first one (competition) when I went back into athletics again which was actually very different than actually doing sprints, it was a marathon.
“I registered for the Merlin Marathon . . . . It was 42 kilometres. From not training or doing anything, I just thought, well I could actually run a marathon which was very crazy.
“And, I never stopped from there on, and then I joined some clubs because then it was very difficult to find a tracks and field club. All you could find was just a marathon and middle distance.”
The Merlin Marathon kick-started her illustrious athletics career, which took her from the streets of Bulawayo’s Tshabalala high-density suburb, to the Airforce of Zimbabwe, Harare, Egypt, the Athens 2004 Olympic Games in Greece, Canada, South Africa and several countries, where she competed with some of the world’s top athletes, including her mentor, sprinting queen Merlene Ottey of Jamaica.
Over the years, Dube abandoned marathons and focused on sprints after she was spotted by one of Zimbabwe top athletics coaches, the late Stanley Mandebele.
“So, my career, I started in 1995 doing relays . . . I ended up going to the Commonwealth Games, I ended up going to the African Championships, All-Africa Games again and also world championships in Paris.
“I was specialising in sprints, sprint events, which is 100 metres and 200, but for Olympics I qualified only for the 100 metres.”
Dube’s personal best in the 100-metre race was 11.36 seconds, which she clocked in South Africa in 2003 before the Athens Games, according to the official website of the International Olympics Committee.
“It is a Zimbabwean record. I think I started actually breaking the Zimbabwean record that was actually Commonwealth Games, when I ran and got to the semi-finals, that’s when I actually broke the records for the 100m and the 200m. I also then went to Tunisia after that which was the African Championships.
“Unfortunately, I couldn’t do my 100 (metre race). I was just there for the 200 because we were delayed. Our flights were delayed, we couldn’t get the 100 metres and I ran another 200-metre record.”
In the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, Dube competed in the B category and came sixth in her heat.
“When I started doing the Commonwealth Games that’s when I realised that I can actually be able to compete really on the world stage and be able to be competitive.
“So, from then onwards, I also started preparing for the next season which was in 2003 I actually managed to run my 11.36, which was the B-standard for qualifying for the Olympics.
“That’s how I managed to actually get into the Olympics team. My 23.23 was not good enough for me to run in the 200 metres in the Olympics, because you have to enter either with an A-standard or with a B-standard, so with me I actually got my entry in the B-standard for the 100 metres.”
At the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, she rubbed shoulders with some of the top athletes, who included her Jamaican mentor.
“In the track and field, I think Merlene Ottey the Jamaican was actually my favourite.
“I was very lucky because when I went to the Olympics we were actually in the same heat, and then when I went to the Games Village dining hall, I managed to actually sit and talk to her, because as you know that is very difficult to come close and compete with so many athletes because you are competing at the world stage.
“I competed against Debbie Ferguson, the Bahamian, which is the same girl that I actually competed with in the Commonwealth Games which is kind of sweet, and I also competed with a lot of great athletes from Africa — Mary Onyali, the African Queen (Nigerian), Geraldine Pillay, the South African.
“So, we had great, great athletes that were competing there, just to name a few that I actually competed with that come into my mind right now.”
Several other athletes featured in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. She vividly remembers most of them.
“There was Kelli White, Chryste Gaines, and there was Christy Aron, the French (woman) . . . That was the time when we had Marion Jones (American), so there were quite a number of athletes that actually were competing then.’’ But, Dube could not progress to the next round of her competition.
Dube currently lives in South Africa where she is engaged in many programmes, including school mentorship.
She likes cooking and body building. — VOA.com
Online Reporter