Olympics: Was Tanzania sabotaged?
Three Tanzanian athletes who participated in the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games which were held in Japan from July 23 to August 8 this year returned home empty-handed, medals-wise.
Ardent followers of sports were somewhat disappointed by mass media organs which continued from where they had left off in international sports competitions in which Tanzania is not involved, or had dismally performed, blacking them out as if they do not happen.
However, in an increasingly digitally-connected world, it was not difficult to learn that Tanzania and scores of other countries which did not do well in the Tokyo Olympics appeared at the bottom of the list – with not a single Olympics medal to show for their efforts.
One of the three Tanzanian athletes, Alphonce Simbu, was placed seventh in the men’s marathon (2:11:35) which was won by Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge (2:08:38).
The other men’s (Tanzanian) marathoner, Gabriel Gerald Geay, did not finish the race, while the third and only female Tanzanian athlete, Failuna Abdi Matanga (2:33:58) was placed 24th in the women’s marathon.
ALSO READ: Tanzania’s Olympic story so far
The time to ask difficult questions has come. One: is there a coherent sports policy in Tanzania? If yes, is it being implemented in the letter and spirit?
Does the country have a funding mechanism to ensure that sports get the much-needed resources for seamless delivery at all times?
Finally: was Tanzania’s performance sabotaged by people who did not want to see the country excelling at the country’s thirteenth consecutive appearance in the history of the summer Olympics?
Were sports officials at the Tanzania Olympics Committee (TOC), Athletics Tanzania (AT) – as well as some dubious Sports ministry officials – complicit in this?
Word doing the rounds is that there was high-level sabotage by the very people who were tasked with ensuring that our athletes are successful.
It is difficult to fathom why such a thing should happen. But, it is safe to say that this seems to follow a certain pattern. Every time we have an international sports outing, the underlying vicissitudes include people scrambling for the opportunity to get a free ride, including allowances, expenses and other freebies paid for at public expense.
Partly for this reason, selections of participants/competitors gets muddied up, resulting in the wrong people – usually friends and relatives of senior officials – being selected to participate as sportsmen, sportswomen, coaches, etc., while the truly deserving participants are left out of the events.
We must ask hard questions on sports issues; we must speak now – or forever remain silent; hold our peace, as newly-weds pledge at the Altar of Marriage.
Kenyan participants at the Tokyo Olympics won four Gold, four Silver and two Bronze medals, while the Ugandans won two Gold, one Silver and one Bronze medals.
Tokyo Olympics medals for Tanzania? ZILCH!
The Kenya national anthem was played to a global audience four times to celebrate its four Gold medals winning athletes. Tanzania has long lost its prestige which the nation’s founder, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, created for us. But, when it comes to competitive sports, we have nothing to shout about from the rooftops.
The question then arises: do we want the glory and its attendant global limelight that would give Tanzania the heshima – respect – it rightly deserves, but does not seem to work hard for?
On social media, Tanzanians seem to have the answers. It is the opinion of many that we need to harness and develop the latent talent that the country has.
It is also a shared opinion that, besides what politicians do and say, it is only sports that can unite all Tanzanians and bring forth the global respect that we desire and deserve – but we seem to have no Nyerere-like persona to pull it off.
Sporting talent abounds in this country. What is missing is the nexus of talent with management nous. Many of our leaders are really joy riders in matters sports; they rarely talk sports – if at all. They are captives of the tragedy of the best which is also the worst of our footballing history: Simba and Yanga football clubs.
What is needed is a unity of purpose – and seriousness in people who are in charge. And that is where ‘the tyre meets the road,’ proverbially-speaking.
Sports excellence requires sports management excellence – and as of now, we do not have that. What we now have are mere noise makers... And, more is the pity!
