PROVO, Utah – BYU track and field athlete Tatenda Tsumba has made the 2016 Zimbabwe Track and Field Olympic Team. The sophomore will be competing in Rio de Janeiro in the 200-meter race which takes place August 16-18.
Tsumba is originally from Harare, Zimbabwe, where he prepped at Eaglesvale High School. Competing in the Olympic Games has been a long time dream for Tsumba.
“On October 25, 2011, I changed my Facebook profile picture to the Olympics circles,” said Tsumba. “I have had the same profile picture as a reminder. It took me a little over four years to achieve that life goal. I feel blessed to have come this far. It hasn't been an easy journey. There have been a lot of unforeseen obstacles but I have overcome those obstacles.”
Tsumba said that attending BYU has opened up many doors for him, including attending the 2015 World Championships last summer. Tsumba was selected to represent Zimbabwe to compete at the World Championships. He competed in the 200-meter dash where he ran a time of 21.21 and placed seventh in his heat, but he unfortunately did not move onto the next round.
Due to unfortunate circumstances, Tsumba did not qualify to compete in the 2016 Division I NCAA Championships. Tsumba did not let that stop him from pursuing his dream to attend the Olympics. He said he is motivated to be an inspiration to athletes and goal chasers.
BYU assistant track and field coach Stephani Perkins has coached Tsumba along the way as he has taken strides to get where he is today.
“I am happy that Tatenda reached his goal of making the Olympic team,” said Perkins. “It was a goal he set after being selected to represent Zimbabwe at the World Championships in Beijing last summer. He has the perfect attitude to be an Olympian. His positive attitude is what got him through to the point that he had finally run a qualifying time. Unfortunate circumstances led him not to qualify for the NCAA Division I Championships, but in spite of that he wanted to continue to train after the college season was over, because he knew that he could run the standard. So, train is what we did.”
Perkins said even though this season did not fair as well for him as last season, he was still able to pull through and achieve three personal best times. She said she knew if he could get the personal best times then he would be able to achieve his Olympic dream.
Tsumba ran outstanding times of 10.17 and 10.18 in the 100-meter dash, but those times were just shy of the Olympic standard by 0.01 and 0.02 respectively. He ran a personal best of 20.44 in the 200-meter dash to solidify himself on the Zimbabwe Olympic Team.
Coach Ed Eyestone is also very proud of Tsumba and his accomplishments.
“We are proud and excited that Tatenda Tsumba has qualified for the upcoming Rio Olympics,” Eyestone said. “He and Coach Perkins worked so hard during the season and then peaked at just the right time to qualify in one of the final qualifying meets before the games. After the Olympics we will be excited to have him back for another year.”