Athletics is dead!!!

Athletics is dead- expert

By Fred Ogot
7th June 2009

Athletics in Tanzania is totally dead, the leader of the Germany-Tanzania Athletics Project, Hans-Peter Thumm (pictured), has claimed.

“What I have discovered in my one-and-a-half-year stay in Tanzania is that athletics is dead. Nobody is taking care of it, bodies concerned talk too much about it but no action is taken,” he told The Guardian on Sunday.

Thumm, who holds a coaching diploma and a Masters in Physical Education said Athletics Tanzania (AT) was there but had no functional structure in the country.

The German instructor further claimed that AT had no regular education of trainers and lacked athletics culture.

“You can not say that you have an athletics body which has long distance runners only. A full athletics body needs to have races ranging from sprinters, jumpers, throwers, middle distant runners to long distance runners,” he added.

He claimed that in the last 20 years, nobody in the country had come with a project to identified talents.

“Local long distance athletes have been doing well in the international races because of their own individual efforts but there were no proper developmental plans to make them maintain those standards,” he added.

Thumm said German and Tanzanian governments had signed a memorandum to develop athletics in the country, one of whose features, would be the establishment of a centre in Kibaha, a project that would be under his charge.

“We targeted the project to end in 2010 but it could be extended by two years more because a lot has to be done,” he explained.

He also said that IAAF World Championship would be held in Berlin, Germany, from August 15-23 but up to now AT was yet to pick a team for the event.

“The German government has offered a chance to the Tanzanian team to train in Berlin for two weeks before the start of the event but up now, the body has not responded. This manifests sheer laziness because Germany has promised to meet all the costs,” Thumm lamented.

Contacted for comment, AT assistant secretary-general Julius Msomi was non-committal.

Concerning the IAAF championship, he said the AT technical committee would meet this weekend to pick the provisional squad for the championship.

“It is true that Germany has given us an offer to train there. We will go there on July 25. The deadline to confirm is June 12, so we still have time,” Msomi said.

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Go for early preparations, Govt tells associationsBy Suleiman Jongo

The Government has urged sports associations to prepare competitive athletes early in order to avoid feeble excuses when they falter.

Premier Mizengo Pinda said Tanzanians were tired of shoddy performances whenever their athletes compete in various international tournaments.

"We don't want to hear any excuse because we still have adequate time to prepare the athletes. We want them to compete and win," Pinda said.

The prime minister appealed to the sports association leaders to wake up from deep slumber and devise apt strategies to boost sports standards.

"Other countries have already started preparations�why don�t we learn from them so as to win accolades. Besides, we have to set up appropriate strategies," he said.

Pinda said since claiming two medals in the Christchurch Games in 1974, Tanzania's performance in the international events has been plummeting constantly.

The runners who won the country plaudits are Filbert Bayi (steeplechase) and Suleiman Nyambui (5,000metres).

Pinda said it was disappointing for athletes to feature in several international tournaments, but come back home without medals.

"We need proactive leaders who can overturn this trend. We should avoid last minute preparations," he said.


However, the minister admitted that the associations were struggling with shortage of funds, urged them to be creative.

"The government is aware of your difficulties, but you must be creative to market your products�we have a very limited budget for sports," he said.


He also commended various firms, institutions and individuals who facilitated the coming of the Olympic torch last year.

Pinda awarded them certificates and medals prepared by the Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC) as recognition of their contribution in sports.

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Mzizi wa Mbuyu said:

Then kwani lazima viongozi wawe kina Bayi Nyambui tu? sasa hivi eti na wake zao nao wamekuwa viongozi!! mnh! nchi hii?

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