Tjongarero is unhappy with fewer athletes for the Paris Games
• By Michael Uugwanga
MINISTER of Sport, Youth and National Service Agnes Tjongarero expressed concerns regarding the low number of athletes representing the country at the Paris Summer Olympic Games. At the Summer Games, the country’s athletes are mountain bikers Alex Miller and Vera Looser, Open Water runner Phillip Seidler and Long-distance runner Helalia Johannes.
One of the few regular participants at the Summer Games has seen the country’s amateur boxers failing to qualify for the Games. In contrast, the sprinting division has seen the country winning silver medals at previous Olympic Games, notably with legendary sprinter Frank Fredericks and Christine Mboma not having any athlete to represent the country. Mboma failed to qualify for her second successive Olympic Games, having won silver at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, in the women’s 200m heat.
For Mboma, it was a challenging year and a half away from athletics ever since she was banned for over six months over her high testosterone. World Athletics asked her to lower them; otherwise, she would not be allowed to participate in any World Athletics events, including the Olympic Games, Diamond League and All-Africa Games or World Championships. Another Namibian athlete who underwent a similar situation is Beatrice Masilingi; like Mboma, she was also asked to lower her high testosterone, and she too failed to qualify for the Paris Games, having represented the country at the 2020 Olympic Games, finishing in sixth place.
The 2020 Summer Olympic Games, the country had nine participants at the Games, compared to the four this time around, with Mboma, Beatrice Masilingi, Seidler, Looser, Reinhold Thomas, Maike Dickmann, Jonas Junias, Johannes and Michelle Vorster. The decline in participants indicates that the country’s athletes had a problematic year during the qualification process.
Boxer Jonas Junias, who was at the previous Summer Olympic Games, at the 2016 Rio Games and the 2020 Tokyo Games, has yet to qualify. The Paris Games will be held in France from July 26 to August 11. The government has pledged N$5 2 million towards the Paris Games, although the Olympic Committee has asked for N$9 million from the government towards the games. Speaking to Confidente, when asked about her views regarding Team Namibia’s participants at the Paris Games, Tjongarero said that the low number of athletes means the country’s chances of winning medals will be limited.
“It is a sorry state of affairs and very bad and it is a big concern, and that is why I am going to call for a meeting with my people (staff members in the line Ministry) and those in the Olympic Committee (Namibia National Olympic Committee) and Namibia Sports Commission (NSC), so that I can be informed on what went wrong and why it is the way it is. Only after that meeting is when you can contact me to find out what was the outcome from that meeting,” said Tjongarero.