The Sunday Mail
Deputy Sports Editor
WITH over five million cases and 380 000 deaths worldwide, one certainty surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic is that not all who make it to the other side will end up the same way they did going in.
This appears to be the case with ace Zimbabwe track and field star Chengetayi Mapaya, who reckons the pandemic has weighed more on his mentality rather than his body.
The 21-year-old triple jump champion, a junior at Texas Christian University, will tomorrow make his long-awaited return to the track following United States president Donald Trump’s decision to relax lockdown restrictions earlier this month.
“Right now, things are starting to get back to normal, shops and restaurants are opening, and people are easing back into their normal lives.
“There are still limits to the numbers in these shops and restaurants, but things are getting better and the government is working towards getting the country back running again. As for me, I start training again on June 1,” Mapaya said.
As a result of the lockdown, Mapaya has decided to sit out the season, or whatever is left of it, and merely concentrate on recuperating and regaining his rhythm and fitness.
“If I am to be honest, I do not think I am fit at all; I had an injury (shin) going into the lockdown, and so I had limited options in as far as training goes. It was mostly cycling and walking around, and so the first priority will be fitness, maybe for the first week or so, and then work on my rhythm.
“It is for this reason that I have decided to sit out the season and prepare both my body and mind for the Olympics next year.
“The Olympics is the ultimate goal and hopefully I can give it (qualification) the old college try next year,” he said.
In as far as the lockdown and the Covid-19 pandemic, Mapaya views himself as one of the lucky few who made it to the other end largely unscathed.
“There were high and there are low days, with the lowest being the early parts of the lockdown where I thought if I did not have track, then there was no point in living.
“However, that was just a passing phase, and I view the experience as character-building.
“Mostly, I passed the time by talking to family everyday, watching movies and chilling with my friends,” said the St George’s College alumni.
Mapaya, who last year made his maiden appearance at the World Athletics championships in Doha, Qatar, believes he came out of the trying times a better and more focused man.
“First of all, I managed to pass my semester, so there is that. And, the experience was more of a test of character and I believe I passed.
“It gave me time to think and reflect on my life, choices and experience, and I can now say without the slightest of doubt that triple jump is what I want to do.
“Everything I do, going forward, will be aimed at achieving that goal.
“I will also try to make it to the Olympics,” he said. His experience in Qatar could stand him in good stead to make the Olympics grade.
