How ready are we for Rio Olympics?

For every Olympics or Commonwealth Games, it has been virtually common practice for Tanzania to be represented by minority games like athletics, boxing, table tennis and, most recently, swimming. Soccer teams have failed to beat qualifier standards.

No matter who represents our country, the bottom line is that what is expected is effective representation. If you attempt to go into our silverware cabinet since independence, the number of medals collected from past Olympic Games is a lowly two.

For decades on end, Tanzanian athletes and other teams that have featured in the Games have displayed dismal performance.

What reflection do we have with these failures having become nauseatingly consistent? Should we stop sending teams for the Games?
We hope NO, as our main concern should be to groom athletes who can end this endless mediocre show at the global stage.

The Olympics are scheduled Games and so should our preparations be if we seriously want to feature in the events as competitors and not mere escort teams.

It’s high time we did away with substandard athletes and made serious preparations that can guarantee us decent performance, possibly including winning medals and accolades.

The ever-recurring failure to win medals in the Games should come to an end. Sadly, we don’t see the Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC) and Athletics Tanzania having this objective in mind.

We must send teams to the Games only after being satisfied that our athletes meet competition standards just as other teams from the rest of the globe do.

Tanzania borders Kenya, which has established itself as a benchmark when it comes to fighting to win medals at global platforms.

If we just cannot beat the Kenyans in athletics, would it not be all the wiser for us to join them through seeking to emulate their winning ways? Eldoret, where Kenya’s High Performance Centre is based, is very close to Tanzania. The six months we have before the Rio Olympics would be much better spent if we sent our athletes to the Kenyan town to facilitate their gearing up for the Games by training alongside Kenyan athletes.

Somali-born British long distance runner Mo Farrah deliberately trained with Kenyan athletes in Eldoret a year to the London (2012) Olympics just to gain pace on his way – and he went on to win the 10,000 metres. He shocked world-class athletes, including Kenyans with whom he trained before boarding a flight back to London for the showdown.

This man took all the trouble to join the Kenyans in Eldoret, so what about us? Do we believe we can win medals on the strength of the kind of preparations we have always made – and failed?

Whether TOC and Athletics Tanzania accept the fact or are not impressed, time has come for Tanzania to take bold steps and work more closely with their Kenyan counterparts – whose athletes have been faring much better than ours in the Olympics and other international events.

Scientific training is the key to success. Shortcuts are sure to end in shoddy displays. We had better take more appropriate action.