‘African Sport Needs Investment To Be Competitive’

Tanzanian athletics legend, Filbert Bayi says Africa must
invest in more sports if it is to compete at future Olympics.

The former 1500m world record holder told Tidesports source
that African firms only seemed interested in sponsoring crowd-friendly
football.

“These companies are interested in funding football, but
what about all the other sports?” he said.

“There are more than 27 sports in the Olympics, and for
Africa to implement some of these sports is not very easy.”

He added: “It needs facilities, it needs equipment, it needs
some areas where we have to invest.

“We are not used to investing in sports in Africa like other
countries in the world. You can’t compare China with Tanzania or Kenya or Uganda
or Nigeria.

“China or America have invested a lot in preparing their
athletes in different sports.”

Bayi, who is now the Secretary-General of Tanzania’s Olympic
Committee, said that the performance of many African athletes that took part in
London 2012 was not good enough to compete at the highest level.

He believes that performances could be improved if national
federations in African countries were subsidised by governments and big
businesses which would allow them to develop facilities and athletes.

Bayi broke the Commonwealth Games record in 1974 in
Christchurch, New Zealand, a record which still stands to this day. He also
broke the mile record in 1975, running a time of 3:51.00.

In 1980 he won the silver at the Moscow Olympic Games in the
3,000m steeplechase.

On the subject of athletics, the 59-year-old said Africa’s
traditional domination of long-distance running – led by the likes of Kenya,
Ethiopia, Somalia and Morocco – did not mean the sport was properly funded
right across Africa.

“How many countries are there in Africa? Fifty-three
countries. We’re only talking about four countries,” he said.