36 years no medal, is hope dying?

Dar es Salaam. The sporting world has all its eyes on the Rio Olympic Games, which arrive in South America for the very first time. But as many nations across the globe look to the coveted event with much anticipation, it almost is a non-event for 50 million Tanzanians, whose flag-bearers are more of participants than competitors.

Tanzania is fielding four runners in the Rio de Janeiro, Brazil games that kick off from August 5 to 21. Only the athletes qualified for the event, while swimmers and judo players secured their slots through the universality wildcards.

Each sport on the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games Programme had a set of criteria which athletes and teams were supposed to meet in order to obtain qualification slots. Universality Wildcards were offered, on discretion, to athletes from member countries that were unable to qualify any athletes for the Games.

Granted, it has been a rough ride for local athletes. It did not begin with this event.

The last time Tanzania had something write home about from the sporting jamborees that are held every four years was in fact 36 years ago.

To date, Filbert Bayi and Suleiman Nyambui, who won silver medals in the 1980 Moscow event, are the men to beat.

Bayi flew back home with silver in the 3,000m steeplechase while Nyambui won in the 5,000m. Bayi also set a world record for the men’s 1500m at the 1974 Commonwealth Games after beating New Zealand’s John Walker and Ben Jipcho of Kenya.

The country had first featured in the Olympic Games in 1964. In other words, it took Tanzania 16 years to win a medal at the Games since it joined the Olympics. Now, it’s been 36 years with no medal.

Apparently, it’s a jinx that will take a miracle to break. From poor funding to poor organisation, a plethora of crippling challenges bedevil any effort to make the country proud again.

“It’s been a difficult journey to get where we are today. We have had not many sponsors, and mostly these athletes have been using their own money for training,” says Athletics Tanzania president Anthony Mtaka.

He appreciated the effort made by a few stakeholders to sponsor some athletes whose bid for qualifying marks in London and Beijing did not yield much fruit.

“We are still have though that we are the only association that secured qualifying marks for the Games,” says Mtaka.

The Tanzania Olympics Committee (TOC) has said it’s disappointed at the declining numbers of Tanzanian representatives over the years.

Announcing Team Tanzania squad for Rio in Dar es Salaam early this month, TOC secretary-general Fibert Bayi said now was the time for “soul-searching”.

He said: “We have seven athletes who will carry the national flag in Rio de Janeiro. It is not the number sports enthusiasts would have liked to represent Tanzania, but we have to rally behind them believing that they can end our medal drought.”

Apparent protest

Last week, the Judo association urged the Tanzania to forget about sending its representatives to Rio in an apparent protest at lack of support by the government and corporate community.

It said it’s a shame that over the years, the country has had to participate as opposed to competing at the Games.

Athletes representing Tanzania in the Rio Games are Alphonce Felix Simbu, Saidi Juma Makula and Fabiano Joseph Naasi who will compete in the men’s marathon event.

Sara Ramadhan is the only female marathoner who attained the marks and will be in the Olympic-bound team.

Two years ago, Sara was expelled from the Glasgow commonwealth Games after testing positive for banned substances.

She was slapped with a three-year suspension, which expired early this year.

Swimmers who will be heading off to the Brazil’s largest seaside city are Hilal Hemed Hilal and Magdalena Moshi. Both qualified via the universality ticket.

Information, Culture, Arts and Sports minister Nape Nnauye, who also last week expressed concerns over the country’s fading hopes of ever making it at the sporting event, will accompany the team to Rio de Janeiro.

The team will depart on August 2, three days before the tournament gets underway.