Inzikuru victory should not blind us

Nov 06, 2000

The latest World Junior Athletics Championship results were surprising. Reason: Uganda, through Dorcus Inzikuru's 5,000 meter gold, floored giants USA, who tailed in the Chile capital Santiago with only a bronze.

The latest World Junior Athletics Championship results were surprising. Reason: Uganda, through Dorcus Inzikuru's 5,000 meter gold, floored giants USA, who tailed in the Chile capital Santiago with only a bronze. This was barely a month after the US underlined its superiority in the Olympics with a breathtaking 97 medals. The Santiago results were reading the reverse. Kenya's position moved to the top of the 39-nation medal table, South Africa's were third and the US were at the tail of the medals table. But, as I put the matter to more thought, I realised that the Santiago results were an unrealistic scale. The US, at least going by standards at senior level, is still the athletics king. And this status is bound to be maintained even four years from now, a period when the Santiago crop of African stars should have reached their peak. There is therefore a stagnation somewhere in the African talent conveyor belt. True, Africa is abound with raw talent but its development, save for Kenya and Ethiopia, is hampered by numerous roadblocks. It will thus be no surprise if Inzikuru fails to translate her Santiago feat to senior level. Julius Acon, a 1994 world 1,500m junior champion is an example of a great talent that never fully matured. Poverty is our main bottleneck. In stark contrast, the US where investment in talent is so big, even a mediocre can be transformed into a big star. Coaching is another weakness. While athletes in developed countries have highly qualified tacticians, the opposite is true in Africa. Our athletes are briefly exposed to mainly physical education teachers. Where a coach is available, he is usually misplaced like was the case with Uganda's Olympic team, which was handled by a marathon coach,who had only a month's knowledge of the team. Genuinely young challengers are easily overcome by "mature" challengers, whose ages are never clear. No wonder FIFA banned Nigeria in the eighties for fielding men in teenage competitions. But with proper systems, all this can be reversed.The issue is whether we have what it takes. Ends.

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