Jamila Lunkuse targets gold

By James Bakama

Today: Swimming

Jamila Lunkuse will be a motivated competitor when she makes her maiden Olympic dive at the London Aquatics Center today.

The-15-year old couldn’t have got a better morale booster than the gold medal winning performance by Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte.

Meilutyte, winner of the 100 meter breastroke on Tuesday, is not only Lunkuse’s agemate, but also her schoolmate. Lunkuse will be in the same pool with Meilutyte today as the Lithuanian goes for another medal.

The two teenagers are on sports scholarships at UK’s Plymouth College.

Another member of the same school whose achievements should also be a motivation for Lunkuse is UK swimmer Tom Delay.

The Briton, also a Plymouth student, competed at the 2008 Olympics, where he made it to two finals of syncronized diving.

The-14-year old was that time the youngest member of Team GB since 1960. Delay is also the World, European and British Champion.

Lunkuse was upbeat as she went through final touches yesterday. She said that though a medal is an unrealistic target, she will still strive to not only make it to the semi-finals, but also break some

Ugandan records in the process. She will be in lane eight of heat five. Her international ranking is much better than that of her male team-mate Ganzi Mugula who failed to qualify to the semi-finals yesterday.

Lunkuse’s qualifying time of 30.84 seconds is, however, the slowest in heat six. Meilutyte has the heat’s fastest time at 25.96.

Lunkuse will be under the watchful eye of her personal coach Lindsay Dunn. Her father Yusuf Nsibambi was recently in Europe to ensure that her accreditation was in order.

Mugula on Thursday equaled his qualifying time of 27.58 seconds national record but still couldn’t advance. He finished fifth.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Richard Bovell registered the round’s best time by clocking 21.77.

Mugula’s time placed him in 53rd position out of the 58 swimmers in the heats. The top 16 finishers qualified for the semi-finals held last evening.