In less than a month, eight athletes will be representing Rwanda at the 2016 Rio Olympics Games, which are scheduled for August 5-21 in Brazil. Although not much is expected from the team in terms in winning medals, but the sheer fact that six of them earned their tickets through qualification, is proof that the Rwanda National Olympic and Sports Committee’s five-year strategic plan, is taking bearing fruits. The fact that Rwanda has never won an Olympic medal in the previous eight editions that the country has been represented is worrying enough to expect that trend to come to an end in Rio. Rwandans have blamed or attributed the Olympic medal jinx on a number of factors; the highlight being failure to prepare our athletes, in other words, “failure to prepare well is tantamount to preparing for failure.” We have blamed enough! Now, but the way forward is to qualify as many athletes as possible in the coming years as they also look forward to improve on their performances, and possibly start to aim higher. This will be the second biggest number of athletes that Rwanda will be sending to the Olympic Games to the games since the Barcelona Games (10). Indeed, this shows how the country has improved in the qualification statistics. Interestingly, cycling will be represented by two riders; Nathan Byukusenge (mountain) and Adrien Niyonshuti (road race) for the first time since the 1992 Games when Rwanda had three— Faustin Mparabanyi, Emmanuel Nkurunziza and Alphonse Nshimiyimana. In London, four years ago, was Rwanda’s only representative, competing the Mountain Bike racing, but thanks to the hard work by Rwanda Cycling Federation in partnership with Africa Rising Cycling Centre (ARCC), cycling has become a key sport. There are so many factors that point to the fact that we may go to Rio and still come back without a medal—among these factors is the lack of standard sports infrastructures, qualified coaches, strategic sports plans by federations, leaders with passion and commitments to development sports as well as poor preparations. Solutions: A number of solutions can be used, for instance starting from the bottom, just like the proverb that ‘every weed has a root’. It should be made mandatory for all primary and secondary schools in Rwanda to focus much on physical education. Nowadays, schools only focus is on getting the best grades possible while ignoring taking part in sports as co-curricular activities. Catch them young is the answer—schools should revamp Physical Education in order to identify talents, Inter-house/class sports competition should be taken seriously. There should be inter-college athletics competitions at the university level, so that athletes identified at the secondary school level, can further develop their talents at the university. This will help in developing talent in track and field. I believe inter-house/class sports competitions help to identify raw talent in schools; unfortunately, many young talents end prematurely upon graduation from secondary school. Sports federations need to catch potential stars when they are young and then groom them for the future. The best athletes in the world, those we expect to win medals at every international competition; it’s because of the relentless hard work their put in training. What we see the like Usain Bolt or David Rudisha do today are fruits of 10-12 years of steady hard work—its proof that there is no short cut to success. There is also a need for cultures change, as to sports activities like swimming, chess, rugby, boxing, and so on, many parents do not want their kids to partake in sports, especially at a young age. Federations should encourage investors to build the required infrastructures, recruit world-class coaches in areas where Rwanda has an advantage. Government has a role to play in sports development, as it has done all these years, but it cannot take responsibility for an athlete’s inability to conjure up the competitive spirit to succeed. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
