Malawi pays price for poor preps

F

or the umpteenth time, Malawi has failed to secure qualification for the Olympic Games set to start in July in Paris, France. If you see any Malawian taking part in the Olympics, it will be merely on solidarity, not fighting for medals.

Why is it that since 1972, no Malawian has made the grade to the Olympics? Poor preparations!

Pundits have said Malawi’s qualifications will continue to be a far-fetched dream unless the country comes up with long-term investment in preparations and a budget targeting promising codes.

Former Malawi Olympic Committee (MOC) president Oscar Kanjala, in an interview after Malawi’s last hope for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France Asimenye Simwaka on Wednesday plucked bronze in 200 metres race at the African Senior Athletics Championship in Cameroon but missed the Olympics qualifying time, said Malawi always starts our preparations late and with  breaks in between.

He said: “For instance, apart from tuning up for the 2024 Olympics, countries such as South Africa have already started preparing young athletes for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. You lose easily if you start preparations late and have long breaks.”

Kanjala added that it is high time the country invested its ‘hard-to-find’ funding on a chosen few disciplines that show potential of doing well in competitions.

“We can target at least four sports codes that show potential and heavily invest in them for a long time and strictly monitor the progress of their athletes,” he said.

Newly-elected Athletics Malawi vice-president and former short distance runner Dennis Phiri agreed with Kanjala that the Malawi has over the years been reactive rather than proactive in its approach to preparations.

“We will keep on talking and having different meetings but we will not sort out the problem unless we come up with and implement long-term plans. Now, we need to set up a new crop of athletes ahead of the 2028 Olympics and invest in them,” he said.

Simwaka, who travelled without her coach Pachisi Nyasulu to the African Senior Athletics Championship due to funding problems, in an interview said poor motivation and inadequate local competitions are also a big challenge.

“For the past two years, we have not had a local competition for short distances and I made up for that by competing in the National Cross Country Championship. This is awkward as I struggle to assess my progression,” she said.

But Ministry of Youth and Sports spokesperson MacMillan Mwale yesterday said they have observed the shortfalls and called for a technical meeting with the Malawi National Council of Sports, MOC and associations to review local athletes’ overall performance at recent major competitions and map the way forward.

Malawi has been fighting for a qualified athlete since its first participation in the games in  1972.

At present, Malawi is the only country in the 10-member Africa Union Sports Council Region 5 that has not produced a qualified athlete for the 2024 edition that rolls into action this July.

Malawi was also the only country in the Southern African Region that failed to win a single medal at the African Games in Ghana in March.