Participation Trophies and Plot Twists: Tanzania’s Unforgettable Paris 2024 Olympic

DAR EA SALAAM : WELL FOLKS, the Paris 2024 Olympics have wrapped up, and if you were hoping for some stellar ath-letic performances, you might want to look elsewhere.

But if you were after a good laugh, well, my friends you were in the right place. Forget about your Netflix subscriptions; the real drama was unfolding in the streets of Paris.

And by streets, I mean those shiny, Olympic-branded ones where dreams go to die usually somewhere around the 20 kilometer mark in a marathon.

Let’s start with Tanzania’s marathon hopeful, Alphonce Felix Simbu.

The man was supposed to be the next big thing, but as the 26.2 kilometres passed by, it became clear that this marathon had more twists and turns than your average Juakali episode.

Simbu crossed the finish line in 17th place with a time of 2:10:03, making it his fourth Olympics of what we’ll generously call “participation trophies.

” Somewhere, even participation trophies are feeling sorry for him.

Simbu later admitted that he forgot the lyrics to Billy Ocean’s hit song,

“When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going.” Had he remembered, he swore, he might have at least nailed 7th place like he did in the last Olympics. Instead, he just sort of jogged his way into 17th place, which is basically like saying, “Hey, I was there,

I finished what more do you want?” In case you’re wondering if this guy has any achievements, well his résumé isn’t entirely blank.

In the high-pressure world of long-distance running, where every second matters, Alphonce Felix Simbu has emerged as Tanzania’s mara- thon maestro.

Simbu first stepped onto the global stage at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, where he finished 12th, a respectable start that hinted at his future potential.

By the 2016 Rio Olympics, he had honed his craft, finish- ing 5th with a time of 2:11:15. Not only did he make Tanzania proud by carrying the flag at the closing ceremony, but he also established himself as a serious contender. In 2017, Simbu solidified his status by winning the Mumbai Marathon and later that year, claiming a bronze medal at the World Championships in London.

His performance was more than just a medal; it was a statement that he could keep pace with the world’s best.

The 2019 World Championships in Doha presented a new challenge, with extreme heat and a midnight start, but TPDF Sergeant Simbu soldiered on, finish- ing 16th.

His resilience was further showcased at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021), where he secured 7th place, demonstrating consistency and perseverance.

Simbu’s journey reached new heights in 2022 when he won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

This achievement was not just a victory for him but a proud moment for Tanzania. So, what’s Simbu’s secret?

He’s perfected the art of “jog- ging”not the casual kind, but the kind that keeps pace with the world’s elite.

While others sprint, Simbu runs with a sense of purpose and a dash of Tanzanian charm.

He’s not just collecting medals; he’s making history and giving us all a reason to smile and maybe even jog a little ourselves.

But wait, there’s more! Let’s not overlook his colleague Gabriel Geralad Geay, who decided to treat his mar- athon like a cliffhanger in an African movie.

You know, the kind where you’re left wondering what just happened and why? Geay, the only civil- ian marathoner in Team Tanzania, didn’t even finish. That’s right, folks, he just disappeared somewhere between 20 kilometres and “I’ve had enough of this non- sense.” Some say the Parisian baguettes lured him off the track with promises of but- tery goodness.

Others specuate that he might have found a better gig halfway through.

Either way, conspiracy theories about Geay’s abrupt exit will last longer than the race itself.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: Is Geay even good at running? Well, he is the Tanzanian national record holder for the marathon, which is a fancy way of saying he’s the fastest Tanzanian to ever run a marathon.

He even finished second at the 2023 Boston Marathon and has won seven notable road races, including the Peachtree Road Race in 2016 and the Bolder Boulder 10K in 2017.

But like Simbu, when it comes to the Olympics, he just kind of vanishes, like your paycheck on the 5th of the month.

But let’s not forget about our ladies, Jackline Sakilu and Magdalena Shauri. Tanzania’s hopes were pinned on them, but they ended up throwing our last cards straight into the Seine.

They ran, they sweated and they left us all hoping we’d invested in better TV sets to watch someone else win.

Shauri, in particular, had a rough time. She missed three cooling stations, and when she finally paused to pick up a water bottle at the fourth, she never saw her running group again.

It was like watching some- one try to catch a daladala in peak traffic.

But hey, she finished in 40th place, ahead of 50 other runners.

Not bad for a day’s work, right? Shauri’s colleague, Sakilu, had her share of drama. She got spiked and shoved twice by an Ethiopian runner as early as the 4th kilometre.

She managed to endure the pain for another 14 kilometres before calling it a day. But don’t think for a sec- ond that Sakilu is a pushover.

She’s a Staff Sergeant in the TPDF and made her first Olympic appearance at age 37, a full 20 years after first representing Tanzania as a junior.

She qualified for the Olympics by clocking 2:26:50 at the Shanghai Marathon in November 2023, slicing more than nine minutes off her previous best.

She even took home the Best Sportswoman of the Year Award earlier this year.

And what about the swimmers, you ask? Well, Sophia Latiff and Collins Saiboko weren’t exactly mak- ing waves.

Both slumped in the open- ing heats, leaving us with nothing to write home about. The reason? Well, they train in 25-meter and 33-meter pools, as opposed to the 50-meter ones the big shots use. It’s like showing up to a boxing match with pillows instead of gloves.

Saiboko, Tanzania’s flag bearer for the Paris Olympic Games Closing Ceremony, is ranked 39th in the mixed 4x100m Medley relay after clocking 4:37.35 last year in Fukuoka, Japan.

And Latiff, well, she’s also ranked 39th in the same relay, with a 66th-place finish in the women’s 100m free- style at the same meet. So yeah, they’re out there doing their best, but their best is not enough. Let’s not forget about the judoka, Andrew Thomas Mlugu.

The man made it to Paris on a ‘Universality’ ticket, which is the Olympic equivalent of a participation ribbon.

He ranked 17th at the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Olympics in 2016 and managed to over- come Samoa’s William Tai Tin in his opening match at the Champ-de-Mars Arena with an Ippon. But then, France’s Joan- Benjamin Gaba came along and cancelled him with, well, Ippon. Like, seriously cancelled him, no Twitter needed.

ALSO READ: Tanzania’s Spirited Journey to Paris 2024

But hey, at least Mlugu was there, right? Now, I know this might sound like I’m being harsh, but let’s console ourselves with the Swahili saying, “Kifo cha wengi ni harusi,” which roughly translates to “The death of many is a wedding.” In other words, if the per- formance is anything to talk about, then Tanzania might as well enjoy its Paris 2024 Olympics honeymoon. After all, we weren’t the only ones who had a rough time.

Nigeria, for example, fielded its largest-ever team, with 88 athletes competing across 12 sports events.

And guess what? For the first time since the London Olympics in 2012, they finished without winning a sin- gle medal. If misery loves company, we’ve got plenty of it.

Gerson Msigwa, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Arts has publicly apolo- gized for Team Tanzania’s poor show.

Not only that he has also laid out the government’s strategic plans to mitigate the five-decade-long Olympic medal drought.

He’s trumpeting the soon- to-be-opened Malya Sports Centre and plans to seek new talent.

Maybe in 2028, we’ll be the ones writing history instead of just participating in it. Until then, we’ll keep cheering, because if there’s one thing we’ve got in abun- dance, it’s spirit. Or maybe we’re just real- ly good at pretending to be entertained. Either way, Paris 2024, you were something else.