Africa-Press – Mozambique. I Deizy Nhaquile will be the next Mozambique Golden Girl.”
This buoyant statement, posted by the African sailor on Instagram on 1 August 2021, is notable for its timing.
Just two days earlier, on her 21st birthday, Nhaquile finished 40th in the women’s laser radial discipline at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
But, she continued, “I’m not sad about my result, because I gave my all”.
Already a history-maker, Nhaquile had become the first athlete from Mozambique to qualify her country to the Olympic Games in sailing after winning the 2019 African Championships in Algeria. After competing in Japan, she also achieved her own dream; of becoming an Olympian.
Citing in particular her achievement in a sport often seen as for the privileged few, Nhaquile continued: “I wanna thank me for being this strong Woman-Girl.”
And now she wants more, and that starts with the opportunity to qualify an Olympic quota spot for Mozambique for Paris 2024 in the women’s one person dinghy (ILCA 6) discipline at the 2023 African Continental Qualifier taking place in Soma Bay in Egypt from 1-9 December.
The competition provides the second opportunity – after the 2023 Sailing World Championships in The Netherlands in August – for sailors from the region to qualify for berths at the Games in France in less than nine months’ time. Olympic qualification will be awarded to the two highest finishers in both the ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 classes (the latter is the men’s discipline) who have not previously qualified from African nations.
Nhaquile, who competed at the Worlds in The Hague in which she finished in 100th place but with a top race finish of 13th, is hoping for a repeat Olympic-worthy performance to book a quota spot for Mozambique once again.
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes’ participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Deizy Nhaquile’s Olympic qualities
The rapidity with which Nhaquile bounced back to a positive mindset and vision for the future after her finish in Tokyo, has no doubt come, in part, from the help received from World Sailing’s Emerging Nations Programme (ENP).
The initiative that Nhaquile has been a part of since 2016, aims to help close the performance gap between emerging and developed sailing nations and promote worldwide competition.
Support and guidance includes event-specific support such as funding for accommodation, boat charter and travel. Pre-competition training camps help with preparation such as a six-day coaching facility ahead of, and also during, the World Championships from experienced coaches, many of whom were Olympians themselves.
In her first three years in the programme, up to Tokyo 2020, Nhaquile had participated in three ENP clinics, learning and perfecting her skills under the guidance of World Sailing’s nominated experts.
During one of the most important moments for the youngster – needing to win at the 2019 African Championships to claim the Tokyo 2020 quota spot – Nhaquile had some important help at hand.
“I could sense nervousness and pressure from Deizy’s mindset,” said Tania Elias Calles, World Sailing remote coach for the senior Emerging Nations Programme. “So we talked about it, set the goal and put that aside making sure our strategy was clear and how we would execute it.
“The main focus had to be the process of every single race, to keep things as simple and enjoy the ride. We had our challenges during the event but Deizy managed to peak and learn a lot from many situations.”
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