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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE Olympic Committee chief executive Anna Mguni says there is need for national associations to play their part when it comes to ensuring athletes are adequately prepared for the Olympic Games.

Zimbabwe are this year going to send one of their biggest teams to the Games, which will also include a team sport following the qualification of the Mighty Warriors for the football tournament.

The Mighty Warriors qualified for the Olympics last October when they beat Cameroon in the last qualifying round.

The other disciplines that have qualified are aquatics, archery, athletics, equestrian, rowing and shooting.

“The first thing that I want to say is that this has been a huge learning curve, understand that we have never had a team this big. And, of course, we have never had a team qualifying for the Games, that has not happened before, so it has been a very intense learning curve.

“Having eight disciplines from different backgrounds with different requirements has been a huge load in terms of just following up the preparations and assisting where we can.

“There has also been some serious positives, I must give credit to the associations. They have been enthusiastic, they have understood the challenges we have had.

“But on the other side the challenges we have had, is we feel sometimes associations believe that an athlete gets to the level of the Olympics and that’s it, their role is finished, which is not correct.

“It is the responsibility of the association, they are the custodians of the athlete and its part of a plan

“And this is where we seem to be missing out or missing the plot. You don’t decide today that tomorrow you want to be in the Olympics, it’s a four-year cycle, for some people it’s an eight year building cycle,” said Mguni.

Mguni said although they have not been able to assist because of lack of resources, they were happy with the work they have done so far.

“Obviously the biggest challenge is resources because preparation itself is about making sure that the athlete gets exposure and competition outside of their normal training. And, sometimes, it means they have to travel, in fact most of the time it means they have to travel.

“So we have had constraints purely because we don’t have competitions of that level here in Zimbabwe.”