Online Reporter
Ellina Mhlanga
Zimpapers Sports Hub
ZIMBABWE Olympic Committee president Thabani Gonye says the Olympic Solidarity Scholarships remain important in their efforts to qualify athletes for the Olympic Games.
Gonye made the remarks, as ZOC called on national sport associations to submit their nominations for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Athlete Scholarship Programme.
Through the support of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Olympic Solidarity Scholarship funding offers assistance to National Olympic Committees (NOCs) for direct athlete support towards preparation and qualification for the Olympic Games.
Speaking to Zimpapers Sports Hub, Gonye emphasised the importance of the scholarships.
And the need for associations to identify athletes with potential to attain the qualifying standards for the Games.
“This is really a great seed that is planted and given through the Olympic Solidarity to otherwise countries that would not qualify athletes, to give them a shouting chance to qualify.
“So they are that important, that when we then go through this process with our member federations, we expect that there will be identification of those athletes that have the optimum potential to achieve qualifying standards that are set out for the next Olympic Games in LA 2028,” said Gonye.
The deadline for submission to ZOC is May 28, 2025, with their technical development commission undertaking the verification process before making submissions to the Olympic Solidarity.
“These scholarships, we have basically given a deadline that the closing date for submission back to Olympic Solidarity is the 30th of June,” said Gonye.
Nominations are open to first tier and second tier athletes.
“Nominations are open for both:
“First tier athletes: Proven medal winners and top-eight finishers.
“Second tier athletes: Developing talents with the potential to shine!” reads part of the post on ZOC’s Facebook page.
ZOC are looking at building on the positives from the previous edition of the Games.
And Gonye believes they have a fertile ground in terms of getting top athletes that can go all the way and make the cut for the next edition of the Games.
He hinted they are looking at the calibre of athletes such as sprinters Makanakaishe Charamba and Tapiwanashe Makarawu, who both reached the men’s 200m final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The two athletes have continued to prove their mettle, and have earned their tickets to the forthcoming World Athletics Championships in September, in Tokyo, Japan.
“And fortunately for us, we already have a very fertile ground in terms of anchors for this programme that really emerged from the Paris 2024 for Olympic Games.
“And certainly, it’s not a secret that our dynamic duo, in the 200m (athletics) certainly will be major candidates in terms of beneficiaries for these scholarships.
“Here I am speaking of Makanakaishe Charamba and Tapiwanashe Makarawu, who have or consistently been per-forming in the 200m in terms of their times.
“They are currently world class. And particularly when we then speak of the different tiers, they are in the tier one, class of athletes who are repetitively running sub 20s.
“And that’s basically a mark of athletes that are at that level that if they are supported, they will certainly be qualifying for LA 2028.
“Then we are going to be looking at obviously other athletes and that will be in the second cluster of athletes, which is world class, competitive and possibly already running world class times to qualify for the World Champion-ships,” said Gonye.
Some of the athletes that benefited from the scholarships for the previous Games and managed to qualify include marathon runner Isaac Mpofu and rower Stephen Cox.
