by Philip Richards

Olympics London 2012
Tanzania were represented by seven athletes in the London Olympics which started on 27 July – three marathon runners, a long distance track runner (5000m), a boxer (welterweight) and two swimmers (100m freestyle). Their training base was Bradford College.

Success for Tanzania was long overdue, with the last medal being won 32 years ago at the Moscow Olympics of 1980. The Daily News reported that, in responding to a claim that Tanzania’s poor showing on the global sporting stage should be a cue to not participating at all and thus avoiding embarrassment, Deputy Minister for Information, Youth, Culture and Sports, Amos Makala, said that the key to future medal success was rather to invest in longer term youth development programmes.

On the other hand, lack of funding and administrative wrangling still appears to hamper sporting success. The former was singled out by ex-Olympic champion Filbert Bayi, who suggested that until more investment was made, the nation should temper their exaggerated expectations of returns in the form of medals (Daily News 5 July). However, The Guardian reported a great deal of excitement around a reward of Tsh 3m, courtesy of a retired army general, to any athlete who brought home a medal – and this in addition to a reported Tsh10m offered by the Tanzania Olympic Committee!

In the event, Tanzania unfortunately failed to secure any medals in London. The marathon runners finished 33rd and 66th respectively – the winner being Ugandan Stephen Kiprotich. None of the other Tanzanian athletes reached their respective finals.

Paralympics – London 2012
The Guardian reported that Zaharani Mwenemti was awarded the sole place offered to Tanzania and will compete in the discus and shot-put.

Football
In seeking to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Taifa Stars (the Tanzanian national side) are currently in second place in Group C (Cote d’Ivoire, Morocco and Gambia) with three points.. The Stars lost 2-0 to Ivory Coast in Abijan, but won 2-1 at home against Gambia. The next assignment will be a challenging one against one of Africa’s strongest nations, Morocco, in March 2013. The Daily News (21 July) reported Kim Poulsen, the Danish-born head coach, as saying that he would be looking for plenty of friendly matches to be organised in advance of that key game to prepare the players.

Unfortunately, in the other high profile football tournament in Africa, the 2013 African Nations Cup, Tanzania were knocked out by Mozambique in a penalty shoot out.

On a more positive note, Tanzania has been moving back up the FIFA rankings in the last few months, though they still rank at a position of 127 (out of 205) and have some way to go to surpass their highest ever ranking of 70 achieved in 1995 (FIFA.com).
Thanks to Erick Lihuluku of PwC in Dar es Salaam for his contribution to the above.

Other sports
We hope to cover a variety of sports in future issues. We know that rugby union and cricket are popular, in addition to athletics and soccer. If you would like to hear about a specific sport or have anything to contribute, please let us know.

The Tanzanian under-23 team in action against Cameroon - Issah Michuzi

The Tanzanian Under-23 football team surprised many when they beat Cameroon on penalties after a thrilling return leg match of the 2012 Olympic Games qualifiers. The “Manyara Stars” now face another difficult task having been drawn against the powerful Nigerian team in the next round.

In the domestic league, Young Africans (Yanga) won the league title by the closest of margins. Yanga and arch rivals Simba started the final day with the same number of points, and both managed to win their final games (against Mwanza and Majimaji), but Yanga emerged victorious due to their overall goal difference of 25 compared to Simba’s 24. Yanga were awarded US$25,000 for winning the title and will represent Tanzania in next year’s Champions League.

The start of the Kili fun-run - photo Issah Michuzi

The 9th Kilimanjaro Marathon was held in Moshi on 27th February and included a marathon (with over 300 entrants), a half marathon and a 5km fun-run (with over 2,000 entrants). Kenyan runners dominated the top spots, with Kipkemboi Kipsand and Anna Kamau winning the mens and womens marathon respectively, though Tanzanians Julius Kilimo and Banuelia Brighton came in second place. The medals were presented by Information, Youth, Culture and Sports Minister Emmanuel Nchimbi, who advised Tanzanian runners to use next year’s Kili Marathon as preparation for the London Marathon and Olympics, saying “We want medals from the London Marathon next so please prepare yourself well and don’t let us down.” The minister also noted that he was aware of complaints from sports fans that football was being given top priority, but insisted that was not the case and that the government appreciated all disciplines.

Crowds were entertained by the African Stars band ‘Twanga Pepeta’ and Bongo Flava artists ‘TMK Wanaume Family’ together with Joseph Payne known as ‘Mzungu wa BSS’ after having finished in 2nd place in the TV programme “Bongo Star Search 2010”.

Tanzania was not represented at April’s London Marathon, but Kenyans again dominated with a 1,2,3 in the men’s race and winning first and third places in the women’s race.