PERMANENT secretary in the Ministry of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture Nicholas Moyo has urged athletes participating in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games to aim at improving their performances during the global sports show-piece.
Zimbabwe are fielding seven athletes in athletics, swimming, and rowing at the Games that are running until August 11.
And Moyo wants them to make the most of their opportunity to rub shoulders with the world's best.
"It's a platform where each athlete should take honour in, and compete against their last best times.
"I am saying to our athletes when they go into it, it's good to understand you are amongst the best in the world," Moyo said.
"However, they have their own best times themselves, so they should use this platform with the best facilities to better their times.
"The first competition I encourage our athletes to take is that they should do better than their last best mark.
"So, number one is that they should look at what they have done in whatever environment they were coming from, whatever facilities they were using but when they have come here on the world stage, they need to compete against themselves and do better than what they did themselves.
"For most of our athletes, they are still young, 2028 is around the corner, so they can use this as a springboard for where we can go beyond 2024," said Moyo.
Moyo has had the chance to watch the likes of rower Stephen Cox and swimmer Paige van der Westhuizen in action at the Games.
Cox is set to compete in the Men's Single Sculls E Final on Friday after coming second in the E/F semi-finals on Monday. Van der Westhuizen won heat one in the women's 100m freestyle yesterday in a time of 58.19 seconds and was ranked 25 out of 29 swimmers that competed in the event.
The fastest 16 from the four heats lined up advanced to the semi-finals.
The athletics competition gets underway tomorrow and Zimbabwe is being represented by sprinters Makanakaishe Charamba and Tapiwanashe Makarawu, marathon runners -- Isaac Mpofu and Rutendo Nyahora. Charamba and Makarawu are already in Paris ahead of their 200m race with the Heats scheduled for August 5.
Another swimmer Denilson Cyprianos competes today in the men's 200m backstroke.
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The marathon runners -- Mpofu and Nyahora are expected to join the rest of the team on August 4 with their races scheduled for August 10 and 11 respectively.
The permanent secretary said there is a need to celebrate the athletes for the effort and work put in to make their participation at the Games a reality.
"What is very important for us as Zimbabweans to know, is that for one to participate at the Olympics is already a score. It's already an honour.
"There are so many qualification races, and competitions, two years before the Olympics and that's where a lot has to be done.
"And the seven to finally become those that represent Zimbabwe, it means they have done a lot and that's a great honour, and that's what we celebrate.
"We already have seven Olympians that have come this far. And when they have come this far, it means they are meeting with the greatest athletes in a particular sports code.
"We have had the opportunity to see Steve Cox at rowing . . . But for me, it's how he is getting his ranking better than what he was when he came here and we celebrate that.
"This morning, we were able to see Paige, where she came first in her heat. Again, if you look at how she came into the Olympics as part of the universality. "But now she is like already amongst the top 25, best 25, that could not have happened.
"And that's already putting her in a league of her own and that is what we are celebrating and I am very happy on behalf of the government, of how our athletes have done so far," said Moyo.
