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Tanzania eyes 5 disciplines in next year’s Olympic Games
Sports stakeholders participate in a special run to celebrate Olympic Day during an event organised by the Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC) at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Saturday. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
- Tanzania is expected to field competitors in five disciplines, namely athletics, swimming, judo, women’s football and amateur boxing, at next year’s Olympics
Dar es Salaam. The Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC) has urged sportsmen and women in the country to step up their quest for qualification for next year’s Paris Olympic Games.
Tanzania expects to field competitors in five disciplines, namely athletics, swimming, judo, women’s football and amateur boxing.
So far, only two long-distance runners, Alphonce Simbu and Gabriel Geay, have qualified for the Games.
The national women’s football team (Twiga Stars) are now in the second round of qualification and will play Botswana in their next match. Twiga Stars got a walkover into the second round after DR Congo opted out.
Swimmers and judokas are currently striving to qualify marks, while boxers are in limbo following the suspension of the sports national governing body BFT after failing to refund the TOC Sh8 million.
Speaking with The Citizen during the Olympic Day celebration at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium, TOC secretary-general Filbert Bayi said sportsmen and women have to step up their search for qualification as there is only one year remaining, according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) calendar.
Bayi said there are many qualifying events that are taking place, but sports bodies eligible for the games are not competing.
“Our obligation is to send sportsmen and women who meet the qualification mark and not otherwise. I call on sports bodies to fight for the qualification marks. Time is running fast, and TOC will not send sportsmen and women through universalities,” said Bayi.
Tanzania first competed in the Olympic Games in 1964 in Tokyo, where the country was represented by four runners competed. Again, four sportsmen represented Tanzania in the 1968 Olympics held in Mexico City.
In the 1972 Munich Olympics in Germany, Tanzania was represented by 15 athletes.
The country missed out on the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada. However, it sent 41 athletes to the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.
The country then sent 18 sportsmen to the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, USA; ten sportsmen to the 1988 Olympics in South Korea; and nine sportsmen to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Other Olympic Games in which Tanzania participated (with the number of the country’s participating sportsmen shown in brackets) were: Atlanta, 1996 (Seven sportsmen); Sydney, 2000 (Four); Greece, 2004 (Eight); Beijing, 2008 (Eight); London, 2012 (Six); and Rio de Janeiro, 2016 (Seven sportsmen).
Meanwhile, sports stakeholders marked Olympic Day at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium on Saturday.
The occasion, held under the theme “Let’s Move”, was also attended by top TOC officials.
