LACK of qualified coaches has been named as the major reason behind the country's failure to win medals in the global level games such as Olympics and Club Games.
That was revealed by sports officials who attended the course organized by Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC) in Morogoro on Wednesday.
The officials said Tanzania won its last medal in 2006 Club Games held in Melbourne Australia and since then now medal has been won as the country after that sent ill trained athletes who most often came home emptyhanded.
The sports officials' forum was conducted as initial preparations for the forthcoming Olympic Games to be held in the French capital, Paris in 2024.
The officials who attended the forum represented Zanzibar Football Federation(ZFF), Judo Association of Tanzania(JATA) and Zanzibar Judo Association(ZJA), Boxing Federation of Tanzania(BFT), Tanzanian Athletics Federation(AT), Zanzibar Athletic Association(ZAA) and swimming governing bodies of Tanzania(TSA) and the Isles(ZSA.
Also attended the forum include the legendary Black Dancer Salum Makuka(Sammy Cool) and Richard Yalomba(Bob Rich) who were invited to plan the black dancers' team that will accompany the Tanzanian Olympic in Paris Games.
TFF, who were invited to the forum, didn't send their envoys in Morogoro. The majority of officials from the sports disciplines said financial constraints impeded them from hiring qualified coaches since they are not capable of paying them.
The President of TOC, Gulam Rashid admitted no sports discipline with a qualified coach at the moment, a situation he said makes it difficult for the country to win a medal in both the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games.
Adding, the Secretary of TAJA, Innocent Mallya said they too lack a qualified coach capable of preparing medal candidates in all big games. "Without a qualified coach, we won't get properly trained athletes who can bring medals here," he insisted.
Additionally, the TOC Vice President, Henry Tandau said the country's target is to win medals and not just to participate as tourists. He said winning a medal is not an easy task as others who succeed in medal haul intensively and extensively prepare their athletes.
Closing the forum, the TOC boss, Rashid said he doesn't see any medal from Tanzanians expecting to participate in Paris Games and the Commonwealth Games to be held in Birmingham, England.
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The TOC President urged sports associations and federations to start preparing athletes now for the two global events of 2024 or else the country should not expect any medal from either of them. Tanzania won its first Olympic silver medals in 1980 during the Moscow Games when the team was under Ron Davis and since then, 42 years now, no medal has been achieved.
Davis who died a few weeks ago, is credited to have created athletic spirit that began with 1500m record holder Filbert Bayi and later e developed further by Claver Kamanya, Suleiman Nyambui, Juma Ikangaa, Gidamis Shahanga John Yuda, Simon Mrashani, Zakaria Barrie, Gidamis and Samson Ramadhan who won Tanzania's Club Games medal in 2006.
Though most of the medals came from the long distance races, there are few others won by middle distance runners like Lwiza John and Samwel Mwera in 800m as Matilda Kisava and Zakakayo Marekwa(javelin) are the only Tanzanians who have won medals in Club Games' field event.
