SPRINTER Tinotenda Matiyenga could not have asked for a better early birthday present. He amazingly won three medals at the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) African Junior Championships, which were held in Algeria’s north-western city of Tlemcen last week.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
The Prince Edward student, who celebrates his 18th birthday today, won a gold medal as part of Zimbabwe’s 4x100m relay team in addition to a silver medal in the 100m and bronze in the 200m races at the continental championships which ended last Sunday.
Matiyenga’s personal medal haul ensured Zimbabwe returned from the junior continental championships with nine medals — three gold, three silver and three bronze — to settle for sixth place out of 14 countries that took part.
The young sprinter, who hopes to follow in the footsteps of US-based national 100m record holder Ngonidzashe Makusha and global star Johan Blake was delighted with his success in Algeria.
“It feels great to win medals. To win a medal is easy it’s all about how badly you want it and how much you are willing to work for it and not to forget the most important thing which is pray to God and to believe that he is in control and that he will never leave you,” the young sprinter told Sports World in an interview on Friday.
“My goal is to put Zimbabwe on the map as one of the world’s athletics power houses,” he declared.
Matiyenga, who is slowly returning to his best form after being sidelined by injury for the early part of the year also managed to record a personal best time in the 100m after clocking 10, 50 seconds earning praises from his coach David Tinago.
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“I think Tinotenda Matiyenga has got a very bright future ahead and he’s going to be one of the country’s top sprinters in the coming years,” Tinago said.
“We were hoping for even bigger things for him this year but unfortunately he had a hamstring injury and only managed to make a comeback later in the season. However we are happy that he has managed to bounce back strongly and run some very good times,” Tinago said.
And the next target, according to Tinago, who runs the Successful Strides Sports Academy at Prince Edward School, is to ensure Matiyenga qualifies for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
“He’s one of the local junior athletes that I believe has got a very good chance of qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games. That’s our main goal and we are going to continue working hard to ensure we achieve it,” he said.
A naturally gifted sprinter, Matiyenga’s first introduction to track and field started at Hallingbury School in Harare’s north-western suburb of Malbereign.
“I first started athletics in primary when I was running in the inter-house competition just for fun. I didn’t expect to win anything. I just wanted to participate for my house but to my surprise I actually won then it sort of started to bloom from there to where I am today,” he said.
Due to his blistering speed Matiyenga was naturally convinced to play rugby but later decided to fully concentrate on athletics.
And after a solid comeback season from injury Matiyenga, who is also gifted academically is in line to earn a scholarship to the US plans to concentrate on his studies for the remainder for of the year.
