Yet, Tanzania’s contingent for the Rio Olympics will leave for the Brazilian city in batches, with the last group flying out on August 16.
The changing departures have been necessitated by various factors including shortage of training grounds near the venues there. The team is also avoiding unnecessary stay in Rio before they start competing.
Arusha. It will be one of the smallest contingents among the 200-plus countries expected to take part in the competition.
Yet, Tanzania’s contingent for the Rio Olympics will leave for the Brazilian city in batches, with the last group flying out on August 16.
The changing departures have been necessitated by various factors including shortage of training grounds near the venues there. The team is also avoiding unnecessary stay in Rio before they start competing.
The team is made up of four runners, two swimmers and a judoka. The formal send off for the team will take place today in Dar es Salaam in which it will be presented with the national flag.
“All our runners are marathoners and the marathon race will kick off at the later stage of the competition, so why spend two weeks in Rio before the race?”, asked Francis John, the lead coach for the athletes during an interview.
The only female competitor in the track and field events Sarah Ramadhani, who will represent Tanzania in the marathon race, will depart for Rio on August 10th while the rest of marathon runners, Alphonce Simbu, Saidi Makula and Fabian Joseph will leave on August 16th.
John, who is training the team with the former national athlete Zacharia Barie, said the marathon race for females during the Rio games will take place on August 14th while for men the showdown is slated for August 21st.
“Our technical bench has decided that our runners should be there just a few days before the race”, he told The Citizen here over the weekend as the team descended into the city from their training camp in high altitude west Kilimanjaro.
He said there was a likelihood of adequate training grounds for the athletes in the Brazilian city which is expected to host thousands of sportsmen and women from all over the world, competing for medals in 42 events.
“The weather in Rio will not be comfortable for our athletes used to train in the cool west Kilimanjaro and Arusha. It is hot there and this will even affect their training” John said.
Other competitors from Tanzania are two swimmers Magdalena Moshi and Hilal Hilal and Andrew Thomas who will compete in judo.
However, the lead coach said a batch of the Tanzania contingent for the Games, made up of no-runners and officials, will leave this week and be in Rio for the opening ceremony of the 16 day sports bonanza on Friday.
Tanzania has participated in the Olympic Games since 1964, a few years after independence. During all the years, it has managed to win only two silver medals through Filbert Bayi (3,000 metre steeplechase) and Suleiman Nyambui in 5,000 metres during the Moscow Olympics in 1980s.
It was the US which rallied the western world to boycott the Games in protest against Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. In all 65 nations boycotted leaving only 81 participants, including Tanzania.
The eastern bloc, led by the Soviet Union and 15 other countries, countered by keeping away from the Los Angeles Olympic Games of 1984. Incidentally many African countries, including Tanzania, did not heed the pressure from Moscow and took part.
