IT’S about a fortnight ago since the curtain closed on the Commonwealth Games in the Indian capital, New Dehli. The atmosphere in the Zambian sports arena is as if there was no representation at the games. That’s quite understandable. There is nothing to write home about.
As a reminder, there were 22 Zambian athletes at the games who all returned home with empty hands. Empty in terms of medals but with enough luggage to push trolleys around the Lusaka International Airport en-route to their respective homes.
And the only thing that reminds Zambians that the games took place in India is the recently constituted committee by sports minister Kenneth Chipungu to investigate the disastrous outing.
Well, I don’t blame the athletes for the poor showing. Not even for coming home with a lot of luggage instead of those treasured medals. Still, you can’t blame them for having a good time enjoying the scenery in India. After all, it is common knowledge that the Zambian contingent had undertaken more of a tourism excursion than a medal-hunting trip to Asia.
Its simple; none of the Zambian athletes was a medal hopeful considering their performances in both regional and continental meets preceding the Commonwealth Games.
Runner Rachael Nachula was probably a distant hope but her personal best time compared to the athletes that were paraded in the 400 metres category at the games provided an insight of what to expect. The sooner we accept she is no longer in the medal class at such events as Commonwealth or Olympics, the better.
That is why I think instituting a committee to investigate the outing is not an appropriate remedy to Zambia’s failure. If I may ask, what is there to investigate from the Commonwealth contingent?
In 2006, the country was represented at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia and the story is not different. Yes, the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002 may have brought a smile on our faces with Kennedy Kanyanta delivering gold in the flyweight division but it seems there was no plan to keep the pace.
Kanyanta’s career in the amateur ranks ended with a bronze at the 2007 All Africa Games in Algeria, at which event Hastings Bwalya collected gold in the light welterweight set.
If you consider Kanyanta and Bwalya’s trail to achieving gold at the two respective competitions, it provides a clue of what Zambia should do to reach its potential. The two fighters undertook intensive training programmes to prepare for the games and manage a place in the medal brackets.
Twenty years ago, 400 metres hurdles specialist Samuel Matete did not become an instant world champion, later on a silver medalist at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics Games, but there was a process of moulding this athlete.
Today, there is practically nothing most associations are doing to prepare athletes for medal brackets. Even when a few potential medal hopefuls are identified, there is no programme to equip them.
That’s the more reason Zambia has emerged among the worst participants at such competitions as the All Africa Games and Commonwealth. Don’t mention the Olympics. Most of those athletes that will make the London 2012 will need a wild card.
Imagine, Zambia does not have a standard Olympic swimming pool. And when the swimmers post poor results at the games, you want to investigate them.
Granted, there are a few Zambian swimmers based in Australia that are presumably exposed to standard facilities but I don’t think their priority is the sport.
Most of these swimmers are abroad because of family connections and they concentrate more on education than improving their time. Thus, swimming becomes a hobby but in Zambia we consider them as our best to even attempt medals at competitive events.
Surely, we need to be a lot more serious than what has obtained if winning medals is to become part of our participation. There is no need to waste time and resources doing things that will not benefit the country.
It is for this reason that instead of investigating the poor outing to India, Chipungu will do well to re-think the terms of reference to the already institute of committee. In my view, the committee should spend more time identifying Zambia’s potential and how to nurture it.
The fact that Zambian athletes have gone on to win medals at some of these events is evidence that the country is not made up of tourists for sportsmen. There is a lot of talent that has either gone untapped or mismanaged in the process.
That is why it is important to re-think our approach because if we keep the same pace, we are assured of continued fruitless visits to major international games.
Admittedly, there is little hope that Zambia will mint a gold medal at a major tournament in the next 10 to 12 years because the current crop of athletes is uninspiring.
However, not all is lost provided the planning to win medals starts with the instituted committee by recommending the strengthening of youth structures in such disciplines as athletics and boxing. The most important thing is to have a plan and also learn from others.
Comments: mukoka@post.co.zm