Ex-olympian Abel Chimukoko has rallied Zimbabwean athletes for the Paris 2024 Olympics to stand their ground when they compete in their respective events.
Isaac Mpofu, Tapiwanashe Makarawu, Makanakaishe Charamba, Rutendo Nyahora, Stephen Cox, Denilson Cyprianos, and Paige van der Westhuizen will be among thousands of athletes converging in Paris for the Games due to take place from Friday to August 11 in France.
"I would start by saying congratulations to the seven athletes who managed to qualify for the Olympics.
"I am so excited that the team which is going to represent Zimbabwe at this edition of the Olympic Games, it's a quality team if you look at the athletes.
"The sprinters, Makarawu, Charamba. These guys are stars, and they can do anything for Zimbabwe.
"Then if you look again at Isaac Mpofu, he is in a class of his own. He is among the top athletes and he is a very top contender in the marathon," said Chimukoko.
"I don't want to put too much pressure on the athletes but judging by their current performance, I can foresee the sprinters going to the finals, all the sprinters going to the finals.
"Then to the marathon guys, Isaac is a top contender because I have been monitoring his training. He comes from my office, so I have been monitoring his training even though I was not part of the coaching and I can see from the type of training he is doing right now, it's just like the Kenyans.
"So I wouldn't be surprised to see Isaac maybe in the top five at this year's Olympic Games because right now he is in top shape.
"So we keep on praying, we keep on supporting until he sails through."
Some of the athletes such as Cox, Cyprianos, and Van der Westhuizen are already in Paris.
The official opening of the Games is scheduled for Friday.
With seven athletes representing Zimbabwe in Paris, Chimukoko said it is an improvement from the last Games where Zimbabwe had five athletes.
However, he emphasised the importance of investing in sports if the country is to expect medals at such Games.
"It's an improvement from the last edition of the Olympics that is Tokyo 2020 considering the situation here in Zimbabwe.
"As Olympians, we keep on supporting, we want to have as many Olympians as possible and we need to see a lot of sporting federations being represented at the Olympic Games.
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"It's unfortunate that it's only athletics which is dominating, especially the Paris 2024. But we need more support. What I am appealing for is support.
"If we need medals, if we need to see more people qualifying, it means we need to inject a lot of funding, we need to support the athletes during the preparation.
"If we want to win medals of which we need more people to qualify, there is a need for support.
"We need a lot of support because locally we don't have many competitions that our athletes can compete in. So most of our athletes need to go outside the country to perform well or to run good times and so on.
"So for them to go there they need support, they need more game time for them to do well. That's why you see like athletics, they have been competing in a lot of international events, and in the end, it has paid off," said Chimukoko.
