Zimbabwe Olympic athletes

Lovemore Dube

THE National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe has revealed that its Olympics bound duo of sprinters, Tapiwanashe Makarawu and Makanakaishe Charamba will set camp in Germany ahead of this year’s Games, set to be hosted by France.

This was disclosed by the association’s technical director, Pakamile Lisimati last week. He said the reason to set base in Germany was to have the pair train and familiarise themselves with the weather and conditions in Europe.

“We would like to have the athletes camping in Germany whose weather and conditions are not far off from what to expect in France who are the hosts of this year’s Paris Olympics,” said Lisimati.

Makarawu was the first to qualify for the Paris Olympics among the track and field athletes when he ran a national record-breaking 200m in 19.93 seconds three months ago.

Charamba was next in May with a time of 19.95 seconds, which like Makarawu’s is one of the best times for the 2024 outdoor season. Both find themselves in the world’s top 10 sprinters in the 200m.

Lisimati disclosed that the athletes will move to Germany with their trainers and Brian Dzingai who is a sprints coach in the US.

“Unlike in the past, we have learnt not to break camp ahead of these Games. We have decided that the athletes will move to Europe with their respective college coaches and they will work with one of our own Brian Dzingai.

We are looking at least the semi-finals for the duo, after they cross that bridge it can be anyone’s game on the podium. They have had a good season and anything is possible,” said Lisimati.

There have been concerns in the past that the Olympics come at a time when the American university season is over. It is a very competitive athletics scene and athletes give their best to retain their scholarships.

Isaac Mpofu who runs the marathon was the first athlete to qualify for the Olympics achieving the feat in December 2022. Rutendo Nyahora was early this year afforded a chance to run at the Olympics on a wild card invitation. She is a Zimbabwean top marathon runner. Steve Cox has qualified for rowing in the Olympics.