The Central African Athletics Championships ended in Yaounde over the weekend with an impressive sporting result for Cameroon as its athletes literally swept all the gold, leaving a paltry to the other countries with the Republic of Congo coming up as a far second.

 Impressive as the sporting side was – even if many of the sporting results were not necessarily something to write home about compared to existing national, Olympic or World records – a serious regrettable after-taste of victory came on with the old demons of improvisation very much around to show by way of late starts, sometimes ending up in unforeseen nightly events, the absence of water and other basic necessities that make for a successful athletics tournament, the absence of jerseys for many Cameroonian athletes and the scarcity of money which could have helped offset some of the organisational pitfalls referred to above. One of the most important outcomes of the games, from a sporting perspective, is obviously the discovery of the 400 meters champion of the games, Nsangou Tetndap.

His 47,48 min performance was already a great improvement from that of the recent University Games (48,00). The national technical directorate of athletics had not even programmed him for the event and he rather forced himself into the event, his win rather came as a huge surprise as no one had ever thought of him as the prospective winner; not to talk of him as the sub-regional champion he is today! Such a posture by the Cameroonian organisers of the games could only betray the lack of a winning strategy or even good strategic planning to ensure victory. It could also reveal the lack of any good policy aimed at tracking potential champions.

Otherwise, how could one conceive that a youthful athlete who won the event at the recent all-University Games in Yaounde could not even be considered as a reasonable challenger; to the extent that his performance was rather considered as a surprise? There are obviously tens and even hundreds of potential medal winners or champions hanging out there and who only need to be identified and brought forward for competition. Of what use then, are the numerous national games organised in the country if potential talents cannot be identified? The Dixiades ended last December whereas the University Games were organized last May. We are yet to get the names of those who emerged as champions or winners in the various events.

This also leads us to the all-important question of the follow-up of athletes because there is no point identifying an athlete who is not eventually followed up professionally to ensure that his or her talent is exploited to the best. If a coherent follow up policy was in existence, then the victory of Nsangou Tetndap could never have been a surprise as it was over the weekend. National short-put champion, Aureole Ndongmo, and African long jump champion, Sandrine Mbumi, are begging for attention.

The world athletics championships coming up at the end of this month may be a far-fetched event for our athletes given their state of preparedness; but the African athletics championships billed for Brazzaville, Congo, next month are a must-event for Cameroon which has already announced the participation of 285 athletes for 11 of the 14 disciplines scheduled for the games. It is not even late to go for those hidden talents; but it is even more important to ensure adequate follow-up for those talents that have already been identified and who have the potential to deliver medals.