Rwanda: London Not Calling: Little Hope for Country’s Delegation at Olympics

By Julius Mbaraga

 

The London Olympic Games kick off in a little over two months but for Rwanda, they already seem a lost cause.

Apart from two IOC (International Olympic Committee) swimming wildcards Alphonsine Agahozo (50m) and Jackson Niyomugabo (50m free-style), Jean Pierre Mvuyekure (full marathon) and professional cyclist Adrien Niyonshuti are the only athletes guaranteed a ticket to London.

Niyonshuti, who rides for South Africa’s MTN Qhubeka, qualified last year following a fourth spot finish in the pro-elite men’s race of the African Championship. On March 18, 2012, Mvuyekure joined him after running inside the marathon qualifying ‘B’ standard time (2:18:00) in the Rome International Marathon; the 32-year-old clocked 2: 17: 32 or just 28 seconds clear of the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) minimum.

Meanwhile, seasoned long distance runner Claudette Mukasakindi also thought she had clinched her ticket with her gold medal in last Sunday’s Cagliari Marathon in Italy. She clocked 2:40:18, a standard B time that is within the qualification mark for the Games, only to be told by the IAAF that the Marathon is not among the shortlisted qualifying races for the showpiece slated to run from July 27-August 12.

With 74 days left, eight athletes are still grappling to qualify. Among them is two-time Olympian Epiphanie Nyirabarame, Robert Kajuga, Felix Ntirenganya (full marathon), Mukasakindi, national steeplechase champion Gervais Hakizimana, Sylvain Rukundo (10,000m) and Rwanda’s most celebrated athlete Dieudonne Disi, who was recently forced out of retirement.

The Olympics are held every four years, giving athletes ample time to qualify for the Games. But shockingly and similar to the 2004 and 2008 Games in Athens and Beijing, local athletes continue to push for last-minute slots.

The country’s desperation reached the pinnacle last Thursday when they sent the inexperienced boxer Pascaline Mugabekazi to Qinhuangdao, China for the World Championships, which also double as a qualifier for the Games.

While it is easy to relate to all the fuss surrounding the Games and the fact that it’s going to be the first time women’s boxing will be showcased, it’s difficult to understand what boxing national team coach Gashugi Kananura was thinking when he decided to send Mugabekazi to China? She is a rookie bantam weight (54kg) boxer who, on top of not having any experience at this level, was forced to travel at the last minute. It’s a sure thing that the nearly 10,000-kilometer journey comes with plenty of jet-lag especially for a first-timer like Mugabekazi.

Ahead of their departure, Kananura admitted that “Mugabekazi has no experience but she is the only female boxer in the country at the moment. Nonetheless, she has potential to battle elite boxers.”

Really? In China, Mugabekazi will come up against the likes of China’s double world champion Ren Cancan, Russia’s experienced fighter Elena Savelyeva and Britain’s Natasha Jonas, a double silver medalist at the world championships and gold medalist at last year’s European championship. Good luck with that.

While the incompetence and unprofessionalism cuts across most of the federations – athletics, tennis, swimming and boxing among others – the Rwanda National Olympics Committee (RNOC) should take as much blame for the country’s continued failure in the world’s biggest sporting event.

Asked what RNOC has accomplished since the 2008 Beijing Games, the body’s second vice-president Elie Manirarora conceded that there was little to boast about. “It’s a learning curve for us as well because we assumed office after the Games and there are a few things we could have done differently to make sure we have better representation in terms of quality and numbers in London,” the official said.

Manirarora also admitted that he was not happy with some of the athletes who were awarded scholarships for the Games. “In future, we will have to sit down with federations to determine athletes who merit the scholarships because as it is, some of them are not being put to good use,” he pointed out.

Of the five athletes – Nyirabarame, Jean Maurice Bikorimana (boxing), Rukundo (10,000m), Niyonshuti and Agahozo – who got the scholarships, only Niyonshuti made the most of it. Bikorimana, who had camped in France since early 2011, could not even take part in the two qualifying tournaments on offer – the 2011 AIBA World Boxing Championships which was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, and the AIBA Africa Boxing Championship which ran from April 27 to May 6 in Casablanca, Morocco – apparently because of financial constraints.

That last example perfectly sums up the situation perfectly: an athlete receives a scholarship to prepare for the Olympics, goes abroad for training on international level, and then there is no money left for him to actually participate in the qualification tournaments for the Games. Administrative incompetence at its finest!