Namibian marathon runner Beata Naigambo has reacted strongly to suggestions that she will retire, while blaming Athletics Namibia for her poor performance at the World Athletics Championships in August where she fell out at the halfway stage.
Saying the nation deserves the truth, Naigambo also hit out at other ‘perceptions in the community’ that she only performed well when shewas running in her own organised races.
Naigambo said she was shocked when she recently saw a report on NBC TV, saying that she would retire.
“I was shocked when I heard on NBC TV that I’m retiring next year. Where did they get that information? No one spoke to me and I never said that. I don’t know who they talked to but they must talk to me or my coach if they want the correct information. I have no plans to retire soon and I will still carry the Namibian flag for a few more years,” she said.
She performed poorly at the World Athletics Championships in Beijing where she dropped out of the race, but said she was not given enough time to prepare for the competition.
According to Naigambo she was informed less than a month before the time that she was selected to compete at the World Athletics Championships (WAC) in Beijing.
She had just won a record six medals at the regional police games, the Sarpcco Games, where she ran various races from 5 000m to a 21km half marathon, and said the time was not enough to prepare for the WAC.
“In Beijing I ran 21km but then I couldn’t do it anymore because I didn’t have enough time to train. Athletics Namibia informed me less than a month before that I must go and compete in Beijing but that’s not enough time. My manager told me not to go, because I need three months to train for a marathon, but I felt I had to go, so despite the short time I tried to fit in a few long runs in my training programme,” she said.
Naigambo qualified twice for the WAC – in November last year when she won the Valencia Marathon in Spain, and in April when she came third at the Hamburg Marathon in a new personal best time of 2:27,18. She then waited for confirmation from AN that she would go to Beijing but no news was forthcoming.
“The previous president of Athletics Namibia (Frank Fredericks) used to send an email after you qualified to inform you if you are going or not. I saw (AN president) Alna (Similo) at the National Athletics Champs in Swakopmund in April and asked her what’s going on but she couldn’t tell me. When I didn’t hear from her I thought I wasn’t going and started training for Sarpcco,” she said.
Naigambo said if she was better prepared she could have done well in Beijing.
“China was very hot and maybe if it was another country I could have done better but I fell out after 21km. The winning time was about the same as my personal best time so if I was properly prepared I think I would have done well,” she said.
“I have to be mentally and physically prepared but it cannot work if you tell a person less than a month before a competition – it’s not just my name that suffers, it’s Namibia’s name that goes out to the world,” she added.
Naigambo also hit out at perceptions that she was not giving her best when she represented Namibia at international events.
“The nation deserves the truth. The people in the community are saying I only do my best when I run in my own competitions, but that is totally wrong. What they don’t know is that when I go out, it’s not for myself – I go out to qualify for Namibia. But I do it with my own money and preparation and training programme and that’s why I do well,” she said.
Similo could not be reached for comment.
