ZOC chief executive says there is need to be more involved in talent identification

Harare Bureau
WITH the preparations for next month’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games almost reaching the final phase, the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee (ZOC) has done some introspection on how the country fared in the qualifying events.

The rescheduled 2020 Olympic Games will open on July 23 and run up to August 8.

The country will field its smallest Games’ contingent of five athletes and ZOC chief executive officer Stephen Mudawarima believes they need to be more involved from the grassroots level.

He said this will help in talent identification and to support the identified young talent to become world class athletes that can produce podium performances at the Olympics.

“We need to step back a bit. Remember even when I got in, I said qualification should not be the ultimate goal. I think part of what we need to try and do is to get a bit more involved in terms of identification of talent in terms of long-term athletes’ development because there are no shortcuts to this. We actually need to look at our long-term development, identify the talent at the right age and support it all the way through,” said Mudawarima.

He said the target should be fielding quality athletes that win medals and not numbers without results.

Apart from support they get from the Olympic Solidarity that offers National Olympic Committees the opportunity to obtain financial and technical assistance for a limited number of elite athletes’ training and attempting qualification, he said they have to come up with their own resources to add on to that, so that they create a large pool of talent.

“Right now, we have six athletes on the scholarship, but in my view it should be even up to 20 athletes on that scholarship. I think that improves the pool of talent,” said Mudawarima.

Team Zimbabwe will field athletes in rowing, athletics, golf and swimming at the Tokyo Olympics.