Athletes Won’t Fall From Heaven

Four (yes, a measly four) is the lowest number of athletes independent Namibia has ever seen qualify for the Olympic Games. The decline was inevitable but it can get worse.

The last Olympics was phenomenal, with the exciting emergence of young sprinters Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi, giving hope we would see a new golden generation of athletes last witnessed with the likes of Frank Fredericks and Hilalia Johannes.

Their glory had nothing to do with the authorities.

The country has seemingly not learnt from the cycling federation, which has at least been consistent in sending sport stars to the Olympics. Of Namibia’s four participants this year, two are cyclists – Alex Miller and Vera Looser.

The stand-out failure that resulted in Namibia having four athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympics includes lack of planning, non-existent facilities, maladministration/mismanagement and seemingly corrupt tendencies.

Every year and for every major competition, Namibia seems to hope athletes will fall out of the sky like manna from heaven.

Cycling is not only well run, but seemingly attracts enough decent money to send sport stars to major competitions worldwide.

The story of football, which attracts major sponsorship, is well known. Netball does well internationally without even one suitable indoor world-class facility. Cricket and rugby keep moving.

Independence Stadium had a tartan surface built before independence which is now broken to pieces. A similar tartan track and field facility built at Oshakati after independence did not last 20 years.

Paralympics administrators are fighting each other with accusations of abusing money meant for athletes and sport infrastructure. So far this year, the Paralympic committee has blown N$300 000 on board meetings, using up N$200 000 in prize money our athletes won at competitions last year, plus more than N$150 000 meant to prepare them for participation.

Sport has proven value for any society: Nowadays, it is also among the biggest job creation industries, requiring low investment with high returns for the stars at the very top.

Apart from bringing people together, sport promotes healthy living and makes for productive societies. Hence the frustration that our government has not bothered to build and maintain facilities that would benefit the majority of our people.

Then we have self-serving individuals in leadership positions of organisations like the Namibia National Olympic Committee, Namibia National Paralympic Committee and Namibia Football Association. Many have remained in those positions way past any usefulness they may have had, apparently happy to collect money for salaries, workshops and travel without a concomitant development of the athletes.

Against all odds, Johannes qualified for the 2024 Olympics for a remarkable and record-setting fifth time.

Instead of the accidental discovery of talent like Mboma, Masilingi, Johannes and Fredericks, it is about time Namibian authorities unearth, develop and fairly reward our stars.

Crucially, we need to block selfish and corrupt people from staying in the administration of sport. It can be done, but not with thieving leaders.