Kigali-based swimming team, Mako Sharks, rose to the top to bag the highest number of medals at the 2024 swimming Genocide memorial that took place at La Palisse Hotel pool in Nyamata, Bugesera District, on Sunday.
The annual competition is organized by local swimming governing body (RSF) as part commemorating the 1994 Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi through sports.
Participants and officials from the swimming federation, National Olympic Committee and the Ministry of Sports visited Nyanza Genocide Memorial in Kicukiro District to pay tributes for more than 105,000 genocide victims laid to rest at the site before heading to La Palisse Hotel for the competition which attracted swimmers from 10 teams across the country.
Participating teams included Mako Sharks, Les Dauphins, Cercle Sportif de Karongi, Cercle Sportif de Karongi, Rubavu Sporting Club, Rwamagana Canoe and Aquatic club, Vision Jeunesse Nouvelle, Gisenyi Beach Swimming club, Aquawave Swim Club and Rwesero Swimming Club.
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Sharks won a total of 21 medals, including 10 gold, eight silver, and three bronze to emerge overall champions of the tournament. Cercle Sportif de Karongi followed with 13 medals of which four were gold, five silver, and four bronze while Vision Jeunesse Nouvelle completed the podium on third place, taking home 10 medals including three gold, three silver and four bronze.
Clement Muhire, coach of Mako Sharks, expressed his pride in his team's achievement, saying, "we are so excited by this win. We prepared well for the tournament, and our hard work paid off."
Muhire believes the Swimming Genocide Memorial Tournament goes beyond just a competition as it also helps in educating young athletes about the atrocities of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi while at the same time reminding them the role sports can playing in uniting the country’s citizens.
"These tournaments are not just about winning; they are also about remembering and learning from the past, so that such atrocities are never repeated again," Muhire said.
The tournament has, according the RSF president Pamela Girimbabazi, served the purpose as it not only showed the level of performance of athletes but it also gave the federation an opportunity to teach young athletes what caused the Genocide against the Tutsis as well as fight the genocide ideology so the atrocities do not happen again.
"This tournament serves as both a commemoration of those we lost in 1994 and a chance for our athletes to gauge their abilities in competition with their peers.”
"The level of the players today wasn't at its best due to most athletes being occupied with school," noted Girimbabazi. "Nonetheless, the tournament was still successful and a meaningful tribute to our lost athletes.