Nyahora remains hopeful
LONG DISTANCE runner Rutendo Nyahora believes she stands a good chance of qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games scheduled for July 26 to August 11.
Nyahora is one of the earmarked athletes to qualify for the Games and is chasing qualification in marathon.
She has previously represented Zimbabwe at the World Athletics Championships and the 2016 Olympic Games.
The South Africa-based runner is currently in the country and took some time to share her plans towards securing her spot at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
She took part in the Harare Athletic Club Nyaradzo Memorial Run last Sunday in Harare as part of her training and emerged tops.
“I am not that far from the qualifying time for the Olympics because my last marathon I did 2.32. So in marathon it’s easy to take 5minutes from my previous time.
“So the way I am feeling now, I am injury-free, it’s different from when I was preparing for my last marathon. I was struggling with a hamstring. So now I am injury free.”
The qualifying time for marathon in the women’s section is 2hours 26minutes 50seconds and for men its 2hours 8minutes 10seconds. Nyahora is set to compete in the Vienna City Marathon on April 21. It is a familiar territory for her, having qualified for the 2016 Olympics at that same race.
She has taken a break from competing for her South African club, Hollywood Athletics Club to focus on qualification for the Olympics.
“I am running for the club but now my focus is on the Olympics and I explained to them and they understood.
“I do believe that I am going to do my best in April because I am trying not to race a lot especially in South Africa. We have a contract, sometimes the pressure of over-racing is too much, you end up going to a race and you find that the body is tired already.
“So this year I changed a lot of the plans. I told them that I can only start racing in South Africa after my marathon because if I can qualify for the Olympics, I open doors for myself. So right now my main target is to run my marathon in April and qualify for the Olympics.
“And I do believe that I am going to qualify for the Olympics. I once did qualify for the Olympics. So there is nothing new on my side. So I do believe I am going to make myself, my country, and everyone proud,” said Nyahora.
The seasoned runner is grateful to the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee (ZOC) and the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe for their support.
“If they were not helping me, I would have been forced to compete for my club from South Africa because I would need my salary every month.
“But because of the support that we are getting from ZOC and NAAZ I feel like the stress is less now,” said Nyahora.
Nyahora is one of the athletes that ZOC is working with and helping outside the Olympic Solidarity Scholarship programme as they seek to improve Team Zimbabwe’s number at forthcoming Games.