Tjongarero decries depleted ranks 

The Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service says Namibia’s poor representation at the recently concluded Paris Olympic Games was not good enough, vowing it will never happen again.

Namibia only had four athletes at the Paris Olympics – its worst-ever representation – which is a significant decrease compared to previous years.

Namibia’s previous worst representation of six athletes was in 1992 when it made its Olympic debut in Barcelona, while this increased to eight athletes at the Atlanta Games in 1996.

Namibia’s largest contingent was at the 2000 Sydney Olympics with 11 athletes – a figure that was matched at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, while it had eight athletes at the 2004 Athens Olympics, 10 athletes at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, nine athletes at the 2012 London Olympics, and 10 at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

At a press conference on Tuesday the director of sport, Jo-Ann Manuel, said the directorate would make sure this does not happen again.

“At the recently concluded Paris Olympic Games we only had one person from athletics, which was Helalia Johannes in the women’s marathon. Just before the team was sent off, our minister (Agnes Tjongarero) and deputy minister (Emma Kantema-Gaomas) called all of us together – the Namibia National Olympic Committee, the Namibia Sports Commission, and the Directorate of Sport, and said let this be the last time we are sending only four athletes to any Olympic Games,” she said.

Speaking at the launch of the Navachab Half-Marathon, which takes place for the 10th year at Karibib on 21 September, Manuel said talented young athletes need to be nurtured for the future.

“We were advised that one of the things we have to look into is the nurturing strategy for the country. We have young athletes who are doing well, but we dont know where we are losing those athletes.

“We have a youngster who went to Brazil last year with the Namibia School Sport Union and came back with a gold medal in high jump, but what happened to that athlete? So when Los Angeles comes around in 2028, these competitions must form part of the nurturing strategy for our youngsters,” Manuel said.

“Los Angeles is four years from now, but other countries have already identified the talents they are going to take there. We might be late, but it’s better to be late than not to be prepared,” she said.

“So, I call upon Athletics Namibia to really work with [race organiser Bethold] Karumendu so that the youngsters who are going to particiate in the Navachab Half-Marathon can be identified for future competitions, with the target being 2028,” she said.