SURPRISE is what Tanzanians hope to see in the 31st edition of Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when three marathoners make a final medal attempt this Sunday.
The chance for them to win is less than five percent as they will be competing against well drilled runners, whose personal best times make them over 10 minutes faster than our envoys.
The race favourite is Kenya Eliud Kipchoge whose best time is 2:03:05 while the average of the Tanzanian trio is 2: 14:00. You need to train exceptionally hard to beat that time.
Medal hopes continued to dwindle after the fourth Tanzanian Sarah Ramadhan ended disappointingly 121st in the Women’s Marathon last Sunday.
It was probably the worst ever performance the country has recorded in marathon, a discipline which, for many years, has been the country’s domain in the global level competitions. Sarah clocked an ugly time of 3 hours, 00 minute and 03 seconds.
She finished almost 36 minutes behind the winner Jemima Jelegat Sumgong from Kenya who clocked 2 hours, 24 minutes and 4 seconds to claim a gold medal. Prior to Sarah’s fall, swimmers Hilal Hilal and Magdalena all crashed out in succession, a situation that left the country with the three marathoners, Fabiano Joseph, Saidi Makula and Alphonce Felix Simbu.
Rio Olympic Games are heading to the end with Tanzania’s athletes, according to analysts, placed among low-profiled competitors. But the nation’s joy ends there as mere competitors.
As excellent performers of other nations escalate the podium to rejoice in their triumphal glory, Tanzania Olympic star does not seem to glitter or have any prospect to do so.
The judoka team of three representing the country has not fared well so far after the judoka’s vice-captain Andrew Mlugu lost to an Australian judoka Jake Bensten in a match mostly viewed as one-sided.
The Games which are scheduled through August 21 seem to portend no honour for the country.
Tanzania sent to the Rio Games a small contingent of athletes. Generally though, the attendance of the country’s athletes seems to announce no more that the nation’s global presence.
That, however, is not what the Games are for, neither is it what Tanzania means to have at the Games any time they take place. For now though, the country will have to contend with its rewards in Rio.
It has not done much for its athlete in terms of input for preparations. In his interview after the bout Mlugu, in sum, blamed his defeat on lack of experience.
“We need more technical support, training, equipment and moral support at all levels and from all key stakeholders so that we can raise the standard of the sport, not as is the case at the moment,” he said.
He said he was unfortunate since the Australian caught him off guard in the final minute. Rigorous training and tune up matches with various sportsmen in international contests would give protection against such a surprise of knockout lock catching the victim off guard.
“I had him under control until that final minute. He committed a foul and I relaxed a bit waiting for the umpire to penalize him, unfortunately the ref did not take action and my opponent took advantage as he quickly attacked and threw me down,” Mlugu lamented.
What he says about his opponent and victor explains what most sports youth especially the judoka lack and why their prospective opponents are superior – proper training, power.
The Australian was stronger. There are people who think Tanzania has good athletic potential and only need support. Bensted who beat Mlugu in the opening bout was not even the best for he too in his next fight lost to Azerbaijan’s Rustam Orujov, who like Mlugu, learned a thing or two in his Rio loss.
African Judo Union (AJU) president Habib Sissoko, who watched Mlugu’s bout against Bensten lavished praise on the Tanzanian judoka for putting up a brave show. However, despite defeat, Mlugu proved that he can be Tanzania’s key judoka in the international arena if he gets assistance.
Apparently, Mlugu’s loss left Tanzania with but a few chances of any medals. There were swimmers, who promised the nation some hope. But the swimmers too fared poorly. Still, there was for our nation a glimmer of hope in the marathon event.
With a good portion of the Eastern Rift Valley running across our country, we have a good potential in earning some medals from our runners who hail from the region, a hilly land around the Mt Usambara. Marathoners from our country do not seem to have a proper training schedule though, which their counterparts enjoy year round in their countries.
Training may be not a serious time, but a contest is. An international contest is even a matter of more dedication than that, which brings us back to training as the most important part of preparation for victory.
But when it comes to attending athletic international tournaments corruption walks in and the trip turns into a business opportunity other than being an athletic chance to improve athletes’ performance.
Mlugu is only 21 years old. His zeal, determination and ambition notwithstanding, he still needs and indeed deserves hard training, more exposure to international trials; but how many fights outside Tanzania has he fought.
The Mlugus are many in the country, but politicians with athletic ambition for the nation to triumph over other in global contests are rare. Most of our athletes come from humble origins with meagre incomes.
All they have is ambition to triumph in sports. It is unfortunate that they have been badly let down by their respective local sports authorities. Not only the Olympics but other international contests like Africa’s regional competitions have proven that our athletes have not received their deserved attention by the relevant authorities. The nation must aim high – to win not to participate!
Swimmer Hilal Hemed Hilal on Thursday showed us what our athletes can do with more and better support that we ever have given them.