Zimbabwe Olympic Committee chief executive Marlene Gadzirayi believes one of the ways to turnaround the country's sport on the global stage is through the involvement of former athletes.
This comes after encouraging outcomes at the recent Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where the country had two sprinters -- Tapiwanashe Makarawu and Makanakaishe Charamba reaching the final in the men's 200m.
Gadzirayi acknowledged the involvement of former sprinter and Olympian Brian Dzingai in the build-up to qualification and participation by the sprinters at the Games.
Dzingai, a 200m finalist at the 2008 Games in Beijing, China, contributed to attaining the results that Makarawu and Charamba secured in Paris. "We started communicating when I joined ZOC and he was very willing to come on board, and see how he could help.
"And because he was based in the USA where he had a front-row seat in observing the athletes that were there, he gave us a list of names of potential athletes that could qualify for the Olympics.
"And that included Makarawu and Charamba. He attended a number of their meets, and a number of their competitions, and kept track of that.
"The meeting with him, my first lesson was because here is an Olympian himself, it shows there is a level that we need to understand in involving professional athletes, past Olympians because they know the pressure, they know what's needed, they know what's required.
"And then he gave us a blueprint proposal to say if they qualify let them go to this competition and this . . . His dream was to see the two boys in the final and through that he then asked for support to ensure that they would go and train in Europe after their collegiate season."
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Makarawu and Charamba held the last phase of their preparation for the Games in Belgium, Switzerland, and Germany before they headed to Paris. Dzingai, who is based in the United States flew to Paris during the Games and they had a meeting to evaluate the outcomes. They also looked at possible ways of moving forward to push the athletes for podium performances ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
"So, I believe it's necessary to also involve the professional athletes, the people that have been at this global stage because they know what it takes to be in the final, to be an Olympian, to qualify," she said.
"He was just coming in to evaluate, this is what happened and also evaluating what will be needed, what's best. We were looking at nutrition, issues around sport science an athletes. "And he was then saying LA 2028, there is also work to start now, to be done and particularly through the association (National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe), and ensuring that we have even more athletes on the global stage.
"So that experience in that meeting with Brian was also an eye-opener just to see where we can do better, what was done well.
"Of course, the dream was fulfilled the two were actually in the final and now he is looking at how do we get them into a podium performance," said Gadzirayi.
Makarawu has already secured his ticket for next year's World Championships to be staged in Tokyo.
"All these are competitions that also need a lot of support and that also need us to ensure that we keep supporting the athletes as well.
"Getting into the Olympics is not a one-day thing. It's a whole investment over several years, eight to 10 years even," Gadzirayi said.
