Fit-again Mrisho sets sights on Rio Games
Short distance runner Zakia Mrisho (left) competes during a past race. The Singida-born athlete is determined to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games. photo | file
What you need to know:
Mrisho, who has a convincing profile on the international stage, will be 32 when the Rio de Janeiro showpiece takes place.
Dar es Salaam. Veteran short distance runner Zakia Mrisho has eyes set on the 2016 Olympic Games, vowing to seal qualifying marks early next year.
Mrisho, who has a convincing profile on the international stage, will be 32 when the Rio de Janeiro showpiece takes place.
However, Mrisho is unconcerned with age--she wants to call time on athletics on a high note.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Mrisho, who has represented the country in multiple races since 2003, said she is fit and focussed on the Rio Games.
“I had a busy year coupled with injuries, but I am fit now and my target is to get the qualifying marks for the Rio Games as soon as possible.
“I have a dream of grabbing Olympic medals in Brazil, so I will work an extra mile to accomplish it,” she said.
The Singida-born athlete attended her first major international athletics competition in 2003, taking part in the 3000 metres in which she finished sixth.
She won the Cinque Mulini cross country meeting in 2004, becoming the first Tanzanian woman to do so.
Mrisho was selected for the 2005 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and managed to finish in the 20th place in the long race.
She came sixth in the 5000m at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics and third at the World Athletics Final (3000m) a month later.
The soft-spoken runner represented Tanzania at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, finishing eighth in the 5000m final.
At the 2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships she was 23rd overall, but she was less successful on the track, failing to make it out of the 5000m heats of the 2007 World Championships in Athletics.
The same fate awaited her at her first Olympic Games in Beijing the following year, although she managed a fourth place finish in the 3000m at the 2008 IAAF World Athletics Final as well as competing in the 5000m event.
Mrisho reached her first major global final in the next season at the 2009 World Championships, taking the 15th place in the 5000m race.
She was selected as one of three representative for Africa in the women’s 5000m at the 2010 IAAF Continental Cup (along with Vivian Cheruiyot and Sentayehu Ejigu and she finished fifth).
Mrisho won the Adidas Women’s 5K in Prague in September 2010, beating runner-up and defending champion Gladys Otero by a margin of 17 seconds.
