Tanzania’s Said Makula crosses the finish line during a past race. Makula attained Olympics qualifying marks in a Morcco marathon after finishing fourth recently. PHOTO|FILE
What you need to know:
The Olympic Games, which will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August next year, will see all nations field their athletes.
Dar es Salaam. With just 255 days to go before the 2016 Olympic Games start, Tanzania has two athletes only who have qualified for the quadrennial showpiece.
The Olympic Games, which will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August next year, will see all nations field their athletes.
Anton Mtaka, the Athletics Tanzania president, named the athletes who attained the marks for the Rio de Janeiro Games as marathoners Said Makula and Alphonce Felix.
Felix had already secured the marks during the World Championships held in China in August after finishing 12th in the gruelling race.
For his part, Makula managed to attain the marks after finishing fourth at the 42 kilometre race held in Morocco recently. He clocked 2:14:18 hours to cross the finish line.
The race, which involved 224 long distance runners in the world, saw Kenyan Jonathan Yego Kiptoo finish at the top with 2:10:31and was followed by other Kenyans; Philemon Gitia Baaru (2:10:41) and Luka Rotich Lobuwan (2:10:47).
However, Mtaka said that despite earning the marks required to compete at the Olympics, they must wait for confirmation from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
“We are delighted to have another runner getting the marks for next year’s showpiece. Unfortunately, we aren’t going at the pace we wanted, but at least we have two runners now with the marks.
“Even so, we can’t brag that the duo have qualified. We have to wait for IAAF to send confirmations. That is when we can celebrate,” he said. Mtaka was confident that more Tanzanian runners will get the marks in January, 2016 when various IAAF-recognised races take place globally.
“Our goal is to field as many runners as possible at the Rio Games, but that will also depend on government’s financial muscle. We are optimistic that we will have many qualified athletes come January because several IAAF races will be taking place,” he said.
“The runners across the country are labouriously training to leave their marks at the forthcoming races, which will also help them attain qualification,” he said.
