Where is the problem?

Thirty-nine countries represented Africa at the recently concluded Athletics World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

Besides Namibia, the continent had athletes from Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Seychelles, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

African countries could only win 26 medals combined (9 gold, 8 silver, 9 bronze). Not too bad, some might argue. But 19 of the medals were won by Kenya and Ethiopia.

South Africa, with its massive population and a big team, could not bring home a single medal.

Africa’s medal-winning countries were Kenya 10 (3 gold, 3 silver, 4 bronze, 5th on the list), Ethiopia nine (2, 4, 3; 6th), Uganda two (2 gold, 11th), Morocco two (1 gold, 1 bronze; 15th), Burkina Faso one (1 gold, 18th) and Botswana two (1 silver, 1 bronze; 26th).

The question is, why does Kenya and Ethiopia succeed? To win medals, a country must participate in large numbers to improve its medal chances.

Ethiopia had sent 33 athletes (15 men, 18 women) in the middle distances and marathon, while Kenya with its 48 athletes (28 men, 20 women) showed their mettle in the sprints, middle distances, marathon and field events.

Kenya did win the most medals, but Ethiopia with its smaller team performed even better by comparison. Besides heaps of talent, it is clear proof that these two countries have a program to identify and develop their athletes.

A development program is something that exists in Namibia only in theory or somewhere under a pile of dusty papers. Our best marathon athletes were in Bulgaria, but couldn’t keep up with the rest. Alina Armas finished 49th and Tomas Rainhold 54th.

Helalia Johannes is 44 years old and possibly past her prime. She is still recovering from an injury, and could not represent Namibia in Hungary.

In the long jump, Lionel Coetzee performed poorly by his own standards due to his inexperience. He can still grow and make a name for himself. He just has to keep going.

Athletes should already be identified in primary and early secondary school and be given the opportunities to be developed.

Namibia has heaps of natural talent, but due to poverty and the lack of interest from the government, everything remains only vague promises and sweet talk. A hungry and neglected child cannot run without running shoes and proper nutrition. Poverty must be eradicated.

If Namibia wants to achieve something in athletics, not only the government, but also the private sector will have to step in to pull the proverbial calf from the pit.

In February 2023, an extraordinary and massive national senior record in men’s 5 000 metres was achieved by a number of athletes at the Independence Stadium. But the runners were allegedly made to run one lap short, as reported by several witnesses.

Eight months later, Athletics Namibia’s promises of clarification on the “record” has not materialized – despite the result still being reflected on the involved runners’ World Athletics profile pages.

The winner of that race, Daniel Paulus, has since removed any doubt about his abilities by improving Luketz Swartbooi’s long-standing men’s national record, set in 1994.

On 2 April 2023, Paulus ran 2:08:40 at the Daegu Marathon in South Korea, slicing almost half a minute off Swartbooi’s best.

Paulus’ absence from the world championship, due to commitments with his involvement in the armed forces, only explains some of the challenges to administrators aiming to establish the country as a power in world sports.