Zimpapers Logo

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter

THE International Association of Athletics Federations has extended the qualification period for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games by three months starting from May 2019 instead of the initial July 2019.

According to an IAAF statement, the qualification period for the marathon and 50km race walk will close at the end of May 2019 (instead of June 29) to give athletes that qualify more time to prepare for the actual Games.

“After extensive consultation with key stakeholders, the Council has decided to introduce a dual qualification system, combining both the entry standards and the new World Ranking System, to determine which athletes are eligible for Olympic selection in 2020,” reads the IAAF statement. 

“Under this new qualification process, an athlete can qualify for the Olympics in one of two ways: Achieve the entry standard within the respective qualification period or qualify by virtue of his/her IAAF world ranking position in the selected event                                                                                                                                   at the end of the respective qualification period.” 

The statement added that the process is designed to achieve about 50 percent of the target numbers for each event through entry standards and the remaining 50 percent through the IAAF world ranking system.

The big change from previous years is that the IAAF will be using its new world ranking system as part of the qualifying criteria.

“The IAAF consulted with the Competition, Athletes’ and Coaches’ Commissions prior to this decision and will continue working with the Athletes’ Commission, the Athletes Representatives (ARs) and the Member Federations (MFs) to ensure the                                                                                                    qualification system is well understood. Workshops will be scheduled with athletes, ARs and MFs during this year,” reads the statement.

According to website letsrun.com, athletes can still qualify by hitting an entry standard, but those standards are much stiffer across the board as compared to 2016. 

In the men’s distance events, for example, the times dropped from 3:36.20 to 3:35.00 in the 1 500m, from 8:30:00 to 8:22:00 in the steeplechase, from 13:25.00 to 13:13.50 in the 5 000m, from 28:00.00 to 27:28:00 in the 10 000m, and from 2:19:00 to 2:11:30 in the marathon for 2020. 

For women, the 1 500m standard has gone from 4:07.00 to 4:04.20, the steeplechase standard has gone from 9:45:00 to 9:30:00, the 5 000m standard has gone from 15:24.00 to 15:10.00, the 10 000m standard has gone from 32:15 to 31:25, and the marathon standard has gone from 2:45:00 to 2:29:30.

Zimbabwe has won eight Olympic medals since attaining independence in 1980.

Swimmer Kirsty Coventry, who is now the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation, won seven of them in 2004 and 2008.

The other medal was won by the women’s field hockey team at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.

Seasoned administrator Thabani Gonye will be Team Zimbabwe’s Chef de Mission to the Tokyo 2020 Games that run from July 29 to August 9,2020.