With over 67 million people, Tanzania has only one athlete in Budapest!

© Tanzania Development Trust

ATHLETICS With over 67 million people, Tanzania has only one athlete in Budapest!

Abigael Wafula 09:53 - 19.08.2023

Eyebrows have been raised at why Tanzania have only one representative at the 2023 World Championships despite a population of over 67 million

When you hear of sports in Africa, Tanzania is one of the countries that comes to mind because of Yanga SC and Simba SC, football clubs that have been making headlines down the years.

However, eyebrows have been raised in recent days after Tanzania only managed to send one athlete to the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

With more than 67 million people, questions have arisen as to why the East African Country was only able to send one athlete, Alphonce Simbu, who will be competing in the marathon.

During last year’s edition of the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, they managed to send only two athletes for the global showpiece, Gabriel Geay, and Emmanuel Giniki, also for the marathon. Geay finished seventh while Giniki failed to finish the race.

As reported by The Citizen sometime back, Athletics Tanzania secretary general Jackson Ndaweka noted that they will be sending three athletes including Giniki, Agostino Sulle, and Failuna Matanga.

Geay was also in the mix but he had to withdraw since he is currently preparing to compete in the Sydney marathon scheduled to take place in September.

The reasons why Tanzania sends a smaller number of athletes to the World Championships are yet to be known.