Women’s sports with disabilities stuck: Muza

MOLENE Muza, a former discus and javelin thrower for Zimbabwe at the Athens and Beijing Olympics, says women’s sport for people with disabilities has stagnated.

Muza who has been involved in sports for over 20 years says there was a time when sport for people with disabilities was on the development trajectory and promised a lot. She said the numbers back then were swelling and there was so much promise.

“We no longer have that kind of development the sport enjoyed some 10-20 years ago. We have been at a standstill for a long time now. If we had continued with the development that we witnessed about 20 years ago, we could be having stronger national teams and our athletes with disabilities could be competing at the highest level and bringing medals home,” said Muza.

She said for that to happen there should be a national development plan targeting the big Games.
Muza who has excelled in several sporting disciplines like marathons, wheelchair basketball apart from the throws that sent her to Nigeria in 2003, Athens Olympics in 2004 and Beijing in 2008, said there are a few younger athletes with disabilities coming through.

“We need to recruit more athletes, create opportunities for them to compete with good incentives apart from sport for wellness. The future lies in those that are yet to be exposed to national competitions and we want the numbers to return to sport,” said Muza.

She said the Covid-19 era also hit the sport hard.

“We suffered the Covid-19 induced break and that affected the sport. Those who were entering the field gave up resulting in few athletes remaining and by the time we got back to sport, the damage had already been done,” said Muza.
She called for corporate and community support for people with disabilities.

“We are willing to take part in sport, teach juniors what we gained in our time and ensure they are the next generation of champions in sport. This calls for a mindset change, communities must create opportunities for their relatives with physical challenges for wellness and competitive sport purposes. With companies’ support we can go far. We need money for equipment, travel to competitions and exposure. There have to be incentives for us as well,” said Muza.

Sport for people with disabilities now exists countrywide.