Africa-Press – Uganda. As the Olympics draw closer, the more real Uganda’s chances of triumph come to the fore.
Uganda has been to 15 editions of the Olympics winning seven medals in athletics and boxing. Overall, eight of Uganda’s 33 Olympic sports have been represented with a total of 188 athletes.
On Friday, Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) converged their members on webinar to celebrate the Olympic Day under the theme , “Stronger Together.”
But while the virtual congregation was meant to show the defiance of sport in the face of the ravaging Covid-19 pandemic, there was a timely reminder of our fortunes at the Games.On average, Uganda wins a medal every two Games. Olympians Aya Nakitanda (2008) and Ganzi Mugula (2012), hockey umpire and player Desire Mukisa and UOC marketing commission secretary Collins Ssemanda all preached on the relevance ofparticipation as a core Olympic value.
“All those winning medals (at the Olympics) started as participants so we need to celebrate the value of participation,” Nakitanda, the former swimmer turned anti-doping expert, said.“If those who have no chance of winning pulled out of the Olympics, the Games would not happen,” she added.
Mugula argued: “Even qualification is an achievement because there are only three medals [on offer] but a huge field of participants.”
Hockey celebrations
Olympic Day was launched, first with a 10km, in 1987 to celebrate the creation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – started on June 23, 1894.
As the years went by, the celebrations grew beyond just a run to sports, educational and cultural activities to “include everyone regardless of age, gender, social background or sporting ability,” according to Ssemanda.
Uganda Hockey Association (UHA) have been one of the few sports federations keen on marking the day, with on-pitch activities like training police officers over the years, while UOC has normally opted for debates in schools.
With sport in lockdown, this year’s celebrations had to be virtual although UHA has called on its members to share media depicting youth activities in areas of coaching, officiating, leadership, playing and empowerment that will be shared with the international body FIH later.
Mugula, who urged players to stay in school as education will serve them at the end of their careers, was joined on the panel by veteran player Aisha Kagere, umpire Innocent Raskara, and development coach Lawrence Kakande, who alongside Youth for Sport’s Karen Mukiibi called for development of grassroots as a way of giving hope to children.Hockey She Cranes coach Sandra Namusoke urged UHA to encourage players to see hockey beyond Lugogo.
Players, she added, can see from Innocent Mbabali, Collines Batusa and Emmanuel Baguma, who have recently had exposure to a professional environment in Italy, as a way to incentivise the sport.
