|
|
Cameroon: Mbango Affair - Feud Between Ministry And Athletic Federation Continues
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The Post (Buea)
18 April 2008
Posted to the web 18 April 2008
Leocadia Bongben
Buea
The feud between the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education and Cameroon's Athletic Federation over the 2004 Olympic Triple Jump Gold medallist, Francoise Mbango, is yet to be put to rest.
It is alleged that the disagreement started when Mbango won the Gold medal at the Athens Games and was given a hilarious welcome by Cameroonians and even the Head of State, Paul Biya.
Biya offered her a Prado car and some money but the President of the Athletic Federation, Ange Sama, wanted her to pay some percentage to the Federation, which she did not.
Then, during the All Africa Games in Algeria, Francoise was expected to be part of the Cameroonian delegation but she collected the FCFA 500,000 stipends and a flight ticket, but did not show up for the Games that almost caused the Federation to be sanction.
However, her selection for the All Africa Games was contested by Sama on the grounds that she has not met the requirements.But the President of the National Olympic Committee, Colonel Kalkaba Malboum, argued that the committee had the right to select the athlete based on the fact that she had better medal winning chances for the country.
The Federation's Disciplinary Committee sanctioned Mbango and another athlete, Joseph Batandong, who did not also show up for the Algeria games.A notification letter no. 0708 of July 2007 is said to have been served Mbango's Coach by the Disciplinary Committee that sat on September 25, 2007.
Mbango had explained to the ministry why she did not appear in Algeria, but the Federation refused to endorse the reason, insisting that she must appear in front of the Disciplinary body.
On April 13, at the Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium, where athletes were tested to see those to represent the country at the African championship billed for Ethiopia next month and the Beijing Games, the Federation refused to validate Mbango's performance.
Mbango had already passed two of the recommended six trials in the triple Jump with a record of 14, 50 metres the highest in the in the discipline with her male counterpart recording 14, 07metres.
Mbango is said to be ready to face the Disciplinary Committee, but argues that the notification letter on her suspension was served to her coach and not her.She holds n that those at the head of the Federation are just there to frustrate athletes rather than motivate them.
Despite her disappointing comeback, she is training with the hope of making it to the African Championship and the August Beijing Games in China.Since April 15 is the deadline for accreditation of selected athletes for the African Championship, there is uncertainty as to whether Mbango would be part of the athletes to participate in the championship.
There are reports that the Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Augustin Edjoa, and the President of the National Olympic Committee, Kalkaba Malboum, have taken measures to impose her on the Federation.
Mbango, during the Athens games, created a record of 15,30m ahead of Greek Hrisopiyi Devetzi 15, 25 m and Russian Tatyana Lebedeva 15,14m.Mbango is now a holder of CAMSHIP scholarship and a holder of the Olympic Solidarity Programme since November 2002.
The scholarship was facilitated by the former US Ambassador to Cameroon, Neils Marquardts, that enabled her to study and live in New York from 2003-2006.Born in Yaounde, April 14, 1976, although she was the tenth in the triple jump at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Mbango developed a record of finishing second in other major events. She won silver medals at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, the 2001 World Championships and the 2003 World Championships.
At both World Championships, she was beaten by Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia. Prior to the 2004 Olympics, Mbango trained alone and then took on a special trainer - her younger sister - Eseppo.Mbango arrived in Athens with her hair shaved as a gesture of support for her mother, who was ill.
|
One of the reasons for Mbango's disappearance from the athletic scene was due to the fact that she was expecting a child.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 The Post. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
