Let it not end with Mboma and Masilingi

Jesse Jackson Kauraisa



While the country is hyped up about our athletic prospects, we must not forget to build more athletes on the success of Beatrice Masilingi and Christine Mboma.

Yes, these two athletes are expected to dominate and torment athletes for a number of years before they call it a day given that they are just 18.

I am sure that we will get more world and Olympic medals from the duo, given the amount of potential they have shown at the world athletics stage.

I, however, still have the fresh memories and heartbreak of how long it took for this country to produce another Olympic medal.

The pain of watching other African countries standing at a podium while we only made up numbers still haunts me.

It is a pain that this country and its administrators must not forget or shy away from as it can come back if we do not take the proper steps towards the future.

Imagine having waited for two decades just for an athlete like Mboma to appear from nowhere. How long will it take after Mboma and Masilingi call it a day or if – God forbid - something was to happen to them?

That is why I am pleading with the government and all sport administrators to create more talent identification programmes in all regions.

Mboma and Masilingi are not from Khomas, so clearly it shows that there can be another little champion coming up.

Now is the right opportunity for the government and administrators to use their success as a tool to lure more youngsters into athletics.

Ironically, we also always hear news of how athletes and teams struggle with funds before going to participate at certain events.

I say ironically because the number of gifts and money they get following their success always surprises me - why it was not made available before they went?

With this, I also encourage corporate Namibia to really invest in athletics because I am sure what they have seen now is proof that we do have talent.

Many countries around the world are so successful at transferring talent because the upcoming are always matched with those at their peak.

This is why countries like Jamaica and the USA always have an athlete that shocks the world after another steps down or retires.

We need to have a plan of continuation and must execute it in the best of ways.

The government’s attempt which saw some athletes training in Jamaica was an excellent plan, but with a wrong execution.

Many of the athletes who went to Jamaica were really past their development stage and that is why this programme failed dearly.

Programmes of this nature could possibly only succeed if are able to identify very young athletes and build them towards the future.

We need to make sure that this country builds a proper high-performance centre to cater for athletes.

One of the things I would love to encourage is the physical education at schools must be used as a tool to have more youngsters learn about the importance of sport.

My thinking is that if there was a Mboma and a Masilingi in this country, there are definitely more of them that remain undiscovered.

Yes, Mboma is a rare talent but there are those who could probably come close to her or, even surprisingly, there could be one better than her.

So, let us open up more academies - which corporate and government must support wholeheartedly.

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