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Ellina Mhlanga, Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Olympic Committee Athletes Commission general meeting and forum, scheduled for Saturday in Harare, has been postponed to a later date.
This is in compliance with the precautionary measures being taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The meeting and forum was aimed at educating athletes on the importance of the Athletes Commission and to highlight issues related to critical aspects such as safe sport.
Each national association was expected to have a representative at the meeting.
ZOC Athletes Commission chairperson, Abel Chimukoko, said they postponed the general meeting and forum until the end of April.
“What we have done is we have postponed the meeting due to the coronavirus pandemic for almost a month-and-a-half till the end of April 2020,’’ he said.
‘‘We are also monitoring the situation, if the situation improves, then we will carry on.
‘‘But, if it doesn’t improve we also stand guided by the authorities.’’
“Initially, we were supposed to have two athletes per each national federation, then we ended up reducing to one athlete per federation, so that we don’t have large numbers.’’
‘‘But, unfortunately, we have to postpone because the situation is now beyond our control.’’
“We cannot monitor the movement of people. People are coming from different areas we don’t know how they are, where they have been to, so it’s very difficult for us to have them at one place, coming different areas.
‘‘It’s just a postponement, we are not cancelling because it’s scheduled, we have to do it sometime, maybe, after April.”
Starting from next year, the existence of Athletes Commission in each national association affiliated to ZOC will be deemed a compliance issue.
The meeting was expected to provide the necessary guidelines for the formation and roles of the Athletes Commission.
“It’s now a compliance issue because, as from this year, every national Athletes Commission, it’s being funded, we are now receiving grants.’’
‘‘The IOC (International Olympic Committee) have started funding every National Olympic Committee Athletes Commission.’ So, it means all our activities, all our programmes are well-funded, so there is no reason not to carry out our programmes,” Chimukoko said.
Meanwhile, ZOC president, Admire Masenda, in a statement released yesterday, said they were postponing their programmes until end of April.
“ZOC is committed to act as a responsible organisation and will take the necessary steps to safeguard its communities.
‘‘In this context, measures such as the postponement of scheduled workshops, activities, training and meetings, will be effected forthwith and up to the end of April 2020.’’
“As guided by national positions, ZOC will continue to monitor the situation and stakeholders will be updated accordingly,” read part of the statement.
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