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JUST IN!!! MUTSAUKI LANDS TOP ANOCA POST. |
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Zimbabwe Olympic Committee Chief Executive Officer Robert Mutsauki has added another feather to his cap following his recent appointment to the post of Technical Director by the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA). The 51 year old veteran sports administrator was effectively appointed to this post in March this year when |
ANOCA assigned him the role of coordinating the inaugural African Youth Games in Rabat, Morocco but the appointment was cemented this month when Mutsauki, as head of the ANOCA Technical Team, distinguished himself by successfully coordinating the Games from 13th to 18th July and in the process providing an effective platform for preparing the young athletes, including Zimbabwe’s double gold medallist Tinashe Mutanga and Sithulisiwe Zhou for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games from 14th to 26th August in Singapore.
Mutsauki’s appointment will for now however be on a part-time basis meaning that he will operate like a consultant for ANOCA, carrying out various assignments but using Harare as his base rather than the ANOCA Headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. The current structuring of this open ended appointment apparently suits Mutsauki as it enables him to continue serving as the ZOC Chief Executive for now, but to accommodate his increased responsibilities at ANOCA, the ZOC General Manager Stanley Mutoya, who is his deputy, will play a more prominent role in the day to day management of the local Olympic body with Mutsauki focusing more on strategy and policy implementation, resource mobilisation, partnership management, risk management as well as dealing with international relations.
As ANOCA Technical Director, apart from coordinating the organisation of African Games at junior and senior level, Mutsauki will also be responsible for monitoring and supporting development programmes for African athletes as well as monitoring and evaluating the athletes’ performances at Regional, Continental and World levels.
He will also be expected to support sports coach education and utilisation programmes while at the same time supporting sports administration or management training including provision of mentorship to sports leaders as and when required. Providing technical guidance and support to African National Olympic Committees will also be an important component of his job and the support to NOCs will include monitoring the uptake and effective utilisation of the various ANOCA and Olympic Solidarity programmes. Mutsauki will also recommend policy on technical and development matters to ANOCA as well as liaise and collaborate with key stakeholders of ANOCA specifically on technical and development issues.
Asked for his reaction to the appointment, Mutsauki expressed delight and satisfaction with the latest developments. “I am both delighted and excited to embrace this new challenge in my long sports career. I am the type of person who constantly seeks new challenges and opportunities and this appointment is clearly a major breakthrough for me after last year’s disappointment when I fell short after a spirited campaign for election as ANOCA Secretary General. This appointment opens a new chapter for me and in this respect I am inspired by the words of John Wooden who stated ‘Do not measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability’.
As ANOCA Technical Director I now have a more pronounced opportunity to serve and impact positively on the Olympic Movement in Africa and beyond and to achieve this noble objective, I will summon all the managerial and technical competence at my disposal because the bottom line is that I should be able to deliver results rather than excuses. Hopefully this is only the beginning of bigger and better things. It would however be remiss of me not to acknowledge and thank all those who have guided and supported me over the years because in everybody’s life and career there are always unsung heroes and heroines lurking in the background. My philosophy of life is ‘whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well’; this philosophy has served me well so far and as for the future I take comfort in the words of Peter F. Drucker who said ‘The best way to predict the future is to create it’.
The post of ANOCA Technical Director fell vacant in December 2004 when the then full-time incumbent, Gustavo Conceicao from Angola resigned. Several unsuccessful attempts were made by ANOCA to fill the post in the last five years including the interviewing of Mutsauki and three other candidates for the post in January 2007.
Harare – 26 July 2010.
:Story Posted On: 27/07/2010 @ 10:25hrs |
JUST IN!!! KIRSTY'S NEW DEAL. |
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By Collin Matiza
ZIMBABWE’S swimming idol Kirsty Coventry gave herself a timely morale-booster ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games in London when she recently signed a sponsorship deal with one of the world’s leading sports waterwear companies — Arena.
The American company recently announced that after signing big contracts with two universities — Auburn and the Cal (men) — it now has the world’s 200m backstroke record holder Coventry under its wing.
Although she competes for (and is a native of) Zimbabwe, and is currently training in South Africa, Coventry is very visible in the United States, after leading Auburn University to two National Championships in 2003, 2004 and being the top point-earner at the 2005 meet.
Arena, which historically was a very strong brand in the United States, has for the last decade made their money on foreign markets and off water polo gear.
With their 100 percent polyurethane X-Glide at the 2009 World Championships, they had the most successful suit of that meet, which was loaded brand-wise.
Although the X-Glide is no longer legal, they have used that publicity as a springboard to launch themselves back into the American market and try to compete with the big dogs — Speedo and TYR and, to a lesser extent, Dolfin and Nike.
And now Arena has managed to secure the signature of one of the world’s best female swimmers — Zimbabwe’s Coventry.
The company said in a press statement, which was recently released from Tolentino, that it is extremely proud to announce a new sponsorship agreement with two-time Olympic gold medallist Coventry.
Coventry is widely recognised as the most talented African swimmer ever, who can show, in spite of her young age, an incredible career path.
She imposed herself for the first time to the public’s attention during the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, where she won one gold medal in 200m backstroke, one silver medal in 100m backstroke and one bronze medal in 200m individual medley.
At the time, the swimming star from Zimbabwe was studying and training at Auburn University in Texas, where she had the chance to compete with the "Auburn Tigers" team in 2003, 2004 and 2005 NCAA Championships.
In 2005, Coventry was the top individual scorer at the NCAA Finals, also achieving three individual titles (200m and 400m IM, as well as 200m backstroke for the second consecutive season).
At the 2005 World Swimming Championships in Montreal, Canada, Coventry was able to give a further confirmation of her outstanding potential, achieving gold medals in both 100m and 200m backstroke and silver medals in 200m and 400m IM.
After two years, during Melbourne 2007 World Championships in Australia, Coventry simply confirmed her untouchable role at the helm of international swimming by achieving silver medals in 200m backstroke and 200m IM.
In 2008 Coventry further asserted herself as an absolute protagonist on the international scene.
At the Beijing Olympic Games she was able to take home four medals: gold in 200m backstroke (with the world record time of 2:05.24), silver in 200m and 400m IM, silver in 100m backstroke (where, in the semi-final, she swam with the world record time of 58.77).
More recently, at the 2009 World Championships in Rome, Italy, Coventry won a gold medal in 200m backstroke where she set a new world record time of 2.04:81; she also got a silver medal in the 400m IM race.
In light of such achievements, Coventry won the Swimming World Magazine Award as the Female African Swimmer of the Year for 2009.
Coventry also has an excellent track record of results in short course competitions, clearly witnessed by her outstanding performance at 2008 Short Course World Championships in Manchester, England.
On that occasion she won gold medals in 400m IM (with a world record time of 4:26:52), in 200m IM and in 100m backstroke.
Thanks to such a remarkable performances, she was awarded by FINA as the Best Female Swimmer of the Championships.
In 2010, Coventry will compete at the Fina Arena World Cup and at the Short Course World Championships in Dubai.
"We are extremely honoured and truly happy to welcome a great swimmer like Kirsty in our team," said Giuseppe Musciacchio, marketing director at Arena, in the press statement.
"She is an amazingly talented athlete, who has already demonstrated her unique value in all the most challenging competitions.
"She has a great image, stature and credibility in the swimming world, it’s difficult to think of a better ambassador for the Arena brand world-wide."
In response Coventry said: "I am thrilled to have signed a new deal with Arena.
"It’s great to be associated with a leading aquatic brand and I look forward to producing good results in their performance driven products. I am training at the moment in South Africa and have enjoyed my time here and the change of environment has been beneficial to me."
:Story Posted On: 26/07/2010 @ 08:25hrs |
JUST IN!!! ZOC HOLD GENERAL ASSEMBLY. |
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By Ellina Mhlanga (Courtesy of the Herald of Saturday 20 July 2010)
THE Zimbabwe Olympic Committee on Sunday held their general assembly at Prince Edward School where they discussed several issues affecting the operations of the organisation.
Prior to the general assembly, ZOC also held their annual educational forum on Saturday at the same venue.
This year’s forum dealt with pertinent issues affecting sport and the main speaker Lazilayana Ezera Tshabangu, the general manager, High Performance Department in the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc), spoke extensively about "Developing Athletes for High Performance’’.
In her presentation, Tshabangu raised several issues including the need for appropriate planning and support, that is financial support from government and the business community.
She also touched on proper governance and the need to have in place firm structures for the development.
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority chief operations officer, Givemore Chidzidzi, also spoke about Sports Tourism and the lessons learnt from the just-ended Fifa World Cup in South Africa.
Chidzidzi said there was need for sport to be well packaged to attract investors and highlighted the potential sport has in boosting the levels of tourism.
ZOC acting chief executive, Stanley Mutoya, noted that there was still a lot that needed to be done given the issues that were raised during the presentations.
"Zimbabwe’s long-term winning strategy plan needs support, that is capacity developmental structures. It is very evident that national associations are not addressing the issue of accountability and good governance. National associations and schools need to work together to implement developmental programmes," said Mutoya.
Mutoya also stressed on the need for all national associations to embrace the long-term winning strategy.
However, he expressed disappointment at the turnout of the associations at the forum.
"We were expecting all the 29 associations to come but we had about 15 that turned up which is about half and it was a disappointment," Mutoya said.
After the educational forum on Saturday, the committee held their general assembly to review activities that were held since their last meeting in 2009 and to discuss future plans.
Some of the issues on the agenda included a report on activities of the executive board, audited accounts and financial report, including ratification of their annual budget and appointment of honorary auditors.
They also looked at the 2009 audit on national sports associations and compliance with ZOC minimum membership standards, among other issues.
Speaking during the general assembly, ZOC president Admire Masenda bemoaned lack of communication from the national associations.
He, however, said they are ready to work with the associations.
"The problem of poor communication persists seemingly unabated. ZOC is prepared to engage national associations to gather your views and challenges in this regard to enhance a smooth working relationship.
"ZOC continues to be responsive to your needs within the confines of the organisation’s capability. A significant improvement to the uptake of ZOC programmes has been observed during the period under review. This has seen, for the first time, ZOC having to put names on stand-by list for such programmes as the Advanced Sport Management course.
"The increasing support and collaboration from some of the national associations during the ZOC events and programmes, particularly courses and the Olympic Day, is encouraging," said Masenda.
Masenda called on all stakeholders to create policies that serve the best interests of sport.
"May we craft policies that serve the best interest of our organisation in particular and Zimbabwean sport in general and may we shun any form of short-sightedness and casual ‘business as usual’ tendencies while our sport succumbs to sporting talent hemorrhage with tragic consequences," said Masenda.
ZOC are also expected to hold a special general assembly to discuss the motions from the executive board and national associations at a date yet to be announced.
:Story Posted On: 26/07/2010 @ 08:25hrs
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JUST IN!!! MUTANGA RAISES ZIMBABWE'S FLAG HIGH IN MOROCCO. |
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By Ellina Mhlanga(Courtesy of The Herald, Tuesday 20 July 2010)
ZIMBABWE Olympic Committee chief executive Robert Mutsauki has applauded the performance of the two athletes who represented the nation at the just ended African Youth Games in Rabat, Morocco.
Sprinter Tinashe Mutanga and middle-distance runner Sithulisiwe Zhou flew the Zimbabwean flag at the inaugural games.
Mutanga scooped two gold medals in the 100m and 200m events while Zhou participated in the girls 3 000m race.
Mutanga won the boys’ 100m race in
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10.84s ahead of Beouda Diage of Senegal who came second in 10.93s and Zghali Abdeighani of Morocco who clocked 11.12s on Thursday.
Mutanga went on to claim his second gold medal in the 200m event after stopping the clocks in 21.85s.
Diage was forced to settle for second place again in 21.98s ahead of Omar Ceeseay of Gambia who came third in 22.55s.
Zhou had a credible showing finished sixth in the 3 000m race in 10.05.07minutes.
Mutsauki was in Morocco where he watched the two promising athletes shine.
The ZOC chief executive, speaking from Rabat yesterday said apart from putting up a splendid performance on the track, the two athletes were also good ambassadors for the nation.
"Our athletes were brilliant ambassadors for Zimbabwe. Apart from good performance, they were well behaved and were adored by other countries.
"They received support from other regional countries like Botswana and Swaziland and David Leboho did a good job of managing the team," Mutsauki said.
The ZOC boss said it was unfortunate that the Under-15 football team and the triathletes who will be at the Youth Olympics, were not able to compete in the games as they would have gained exposure and could have helped the country win more medals.
Mutsauki who was also serving in the Games’ coordinating committee said the first African Youth Games were a success.
"Clearly 40 out of 53 countries for the inaugural Games is by any standard a very good turn out," he said.
The next Games will be held in 2014 before the Youth Olympic Games set for China..
:Story Posted On: 26/07/2010 @ 13:25hrs |
MUTANGA RAISES ZIMBABWE'S FLAG HIGH IN MOROCCO. |
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By Ellina Mhlanga (Courtesy of the Herald of Saturday 17 July 2010)
YOUNG athlete Tinashe Mutanga made his presence felt at the ongoing African Youth Games in Rabat, Morocco, where he scooped a gold medal in the 100m event yesterday.
According to reports from Rabat, Mutanga raised the country’s flag high at the inaugural games as he came home first in 10,84 seconds.
Mutanga and middle-distance runner Sithulisiwe Zhou are representing Zimbabwe at the games, which started on Tuesday.
Mutanga is taking part in the 100m and 200m events while Zhou competed in the 3 000m yesterday.
Mutanga was scheduled to compete in 200m event late yesterday. While Mutanga was all smiles after winning the 100m event yesterday, it was not the same for Zhou after she finished a disappointing sixth in the 3 000m race.
Stanley Mutoya, the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee general manager, was however satisfied with the young athlete’s results. "I understand the competition there is very high and for Sithulisiwe, the 3 000m race was quite challenging with Ethiopians and Kenyans taking part.
"However, we feel that both Mutanga and Zhou have received enough competition to prepare for the Youth Olympic Games to be held in Singapore next month," said Mutoya.
Team manager David Leboho said Zhou, who was set to also compete in the 1 000m event, was only allowed to participate in the 3 000m race.
"The weather is quite hot and we hope for the best," Leboho said from Rabat yesterday.
Mutanga will also be competing in the medley relays as one of the Zone Six team runners.
The two athletes are using the games to prepare for the Youth Olympic Games set to run from August 14 to 26 in Singapore.
:Story Posted On: 19/07/2010 @ 13:25hrs |
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