Ndumbaro calls on Tanzania Olympic Games squad to bring medals

Dar es Salaam. Culture, Arts, and Sports Minister Damas Ndumbaro has urged the athletes representing the country at the Olympic Games to bring home medals despite their small number.

Tanzania will be represented by seven athletes in three sports: athletics, swimming, and judo as its  delegation includes swimmers Collins Saliboko and Sophia Latiff, judoka Andrew Mlugu, and long distance runners Alphonce Simbu, Gabriel Geay, Magdalena Shauri, and Jackline Sakilu.

Read: Tanzanian sportsmen and women ready for Olympic Games

Ndumbaro, who will attend the opening ceremony of the Games tomorrow, stated that there is every reason for Tanzania to win medals in the historic Games taking place in Paris.

Tanzania last won medals in 1980 in Moscow, Russia, (then the Soviet Union), through Filbert Bayi and Suleiman Nyam-bui, who both won silver.

“Having a few representatives is not a reason to miss out on medals. It has been over 40 years now.  However, we have every reason to perform well in this year’s competitions due to the preparations we have made.

“I urge all athletes to fight hard to ensure we make another history in these games,” said Ndumbaro.

He mentioned that Tanzanians are eager to see more Olympic medals in the country following those won by Bayi and Nyambui.

"President (Samia Suluhu Hassan) expects Tanzania to perform well in these competitions. I emphasize that our priority is to win, not just to participate," he said.

For his part, Tanzania Team captain Simbu said they are determined to win medals in the competitions despite facing a tough challenge.

Simbu noted that although the marathon will see the participation of world class runners such as Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele, it will not prevent them from performing well.

“This is our year. The training we have undergone leaves no doubt that we will be among the top three in the marathon,” said Simbu.

For the first time, Simbu and injured Geay may run in the same race if Geay recovers before the marathon competition.

“Running together with Geay will boost our morale as we will motivate each other, as it has been the case with athletes from other countries, especially Kenya and Ethiopia,” he said.

    The 2024 Summer Olympics is an international multi-sport event to be held tomorrow in the main host city of Paris and other 16 cities across Metropolitan France, plus one subsite in Tahiti, an island within the French overseas country and over-seas collectivity of French Polynesia.

Paris was awarded the Games at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru, on 13 September 2017.

After multiple withdrawals that left only Paris and Los Angeles in contention, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved a process to concurrently award the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics to the two remaining candidate cities;

 Both of the bids were praised for high technical plans and innovative ways to use a record-breaking number of exist-ing and tempo Dar es Salaam. Culture, Arts, and Sports Minister Damas Ndumbaro has urged the athletes represent-ing the country at the Olympic Games to bring home medals despite their small number.

Tanzania will be represented by seven athletes in three sports: athletics, swimming, and judo as its  delegation in-cludes swimmers Collins Saliboko and Sophia Latiff, judoka Andrew Mlugu, and long distance runners Alphonce Sim-bu, Gabriel Geay, Magdalena Shauri, and Jackline Sakilu.

Ndumbaro, who will attend the opening ceremony of the Games tomorrow, stated that there is every reason for Tan-zania to win medals in the historic Games taking place in Paris.

Tanzania last won medals in 1980 in Moscow, Russia, (then the Soviet Union), through Filbert Bayi and Suleiman Nyambui, who both won silver.

“Having a few representatives is not a reason to miss out on medals. It has been over 40 years now.  However, we have every reason to perform well in this year’s competitions due to the preparations we have made.

“I urge all athletes to fight hard to ensure we make another history in these games,” said Ndumbaro. He mentioned that Tanzanians are eager to see more Olympic medals in the country following those won by Bayi and Nyambui.

"President (Samia Suluhu Hassan) expects Tanzania to perform well in these competitions. I emphasize that our priori-ty is to win, not just to participate," he said.

For his part, Tanzania Team captain Simbu said they are determined to win medals in the competitions despite facing a tough challenge.

Simbu noted that although the marathon will see the participation of world class runners such as Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele, it will not prevent them from performing well.

“This is our year. The training we have undergone leaves no doubt that we will be among the top three in the mara-thon,” said Simbu.

For the first time, Simbu and injured Geay may run in the same race if Geay recovers before the marathon competi-tion.

“Running together with Geay will boost our morale as we will motivate each other, as it has been the case with ath-letes from other countries, especially Kenya and Ethiopia,” he said.

The 2024 Summer Olympics is an international multi-sport event to be held tomorrow in the main host city of Paris and other 16 cities across Metropolitan France, plus one subsite in Tahiti, an island within the French overseas country and overseas collectivity of French Polynesia.

Paris was awarded the Games at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru, on 13 September 2017.

After multiple withdrawals that left only Paris and Los Angeles in contention, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved a process to concurrently award the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics to the two remaining candidate cities; both of the bids were praised for high technical plans and innovative ways to use a record-breaking number of existing and temporary facilitiesrary facilities