The Olympic Games in Tokyo came to a close on Sunday August 8. For a little over two weeks the games brought us joy and gave us a lift in these depressing times. We were treated to excellent competition and performances by the world’s top athletes across a wide range of events. They broke records and set new ones, or had their personal best performances. The athletes have now packed their bags and gone home. Some with medals and a lot of joy; most, among them our very own, with none but still proud to have participated and represented their nations and given their all in the world’s biggest global sporting event. Winners will arrive to jubilant receptions and a well-earned holiday. All will be feted by family and friends. Journalists, too, to whom we should be grateful for bringing the games to us have packed their cameras and microphones and notebooks and returned to their media houses. We will see them again in Paris in 2024. The games are, however, more than simply entertainment or even personal achievement. For two weeks, every four years the world comes together as one. The usual divisions are put aside for the moment in celebrating human excellence and achievement. Of course, there is national pride on display – a lot of flag-waving and victory laps by athletes draped in the national flag, but it is all in good spirit. But while this is so, other divisions soon come to the fore. There is a wide gulf in athletes’ performance depending on facilities at their disposal, their individual effort and level of preparedness, and support by their countries. The better facilitated obviously do well. So too the well prepared and the more supported, even when facilities are modest. In this part of the world the Tokyo Olympics brought the usual results. Our east African neighbours of Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda brought back medals from middle and distance track events that they have turned into their own. Rwanda came back empty-handed. We cannot say we are very disappointed because we did not have very high hopes to begin with. Our athletes and sports officials were there as part of the global sporting community and perhaps to learn a thing or two for the future. The rest of us felt good that they were there flying the national flag. You could feel the collective pride when Alphonsine Agahozo, carrying the flag led the Rwandan team into the stadium during the opening ceremony of the games. That was the last time many of us saw them. Not many know or can remember the names of the team. But surely we cannot be satisfied with mere participation. It is not the Rwandan way. Our way is to win, to be the best in what we do. The winning spirit must also extend to sport. For this we must have higher ambitions to win the events we take part in. At the moment that seems to be some distance away. There are things we are not doing or not doing them well. We are not spotting and nurturing talent early enough. True, the ministry of sports recognises that and is making the right noises about setting up sports academies. That is good but the process should start earlier. The academies must be fed from other sources. Potential talent must be identified before it can be directed to a training academy. The starting point is schools. Several things must be in place for schools to identify and develop sporting talent before we can talk of academies. First, sports must be given more time beyond space on the school timetable. Then there have to be trained teachers responsible for sports. Which means teacher training institutions must include physical education or sports science in their curriculum or where it exists to reinforce it. Third, there must be sports facilities. We are aware that some of our schools do not have enough land to have extensive playing fields. But there are some sports disciplines like table tennis or badminton that do not require much space. All that is needed is a room, table, nets, a ball or shuttlecock and bats. As it is there is too much emphasis on academics and certificates. That perhaps reflects our measure of success. We are developing a sports complex in Remera. Rwanda will no doubt be able to hold major continental or world sporting events. That is a good thing. It will bring in money and recognition. Hopefully some of our sports people will use the complex to develop their talent. But it will achieve a bigger purpose if it benefits local athletes to hone their skills and become more competitive on the world stage. This is no idle observation. Amahoro National Stadium has a running track. But I don’t remember seeing it used for athletics competitions. And yet every time the stadium is renovated, a new running track is laid. I suppose when a new stadium is built, it will also have an athletics track. This time surely not for decoration. There is some hope that things are changing. The ministry of sports has only sports to attend to and the minister is also focussed on sport and has shown a lot of enthusiasm. Perhaps we might make a quick transition from mere participants to winners. The views expressed in this article are of the writer.
