While the holding of the Olympic Games is still six years away, it is important that the right preparation starts now to encourage new and existing talent to be able to develop into international competitors and to guarantee Tanzania success at the games.

Obviously athletics will be one of the main sports to focus on in terms of building on existing expertise in this area. But disability sports, boxing and ballgames will also be important.

While the focus at present in the media and generally in the country is naturally more on football, its important that some attention is also focused now to those sports most likely to win medals for Tanzania in the Olympic Games.

Athletics and boxing have been the two main sports which have brought us medals at the international level. While there are lots of internal conflicts among the sports associations for leadership at present, it is high time for the government to step in and put the focus on practical ways to prepare the country for the games.

There are two areas to concentrate on: building up new talent and planning for the right support to those who will end up competing.

Firstly, it is important that schools start to have P.E as a regular part of the weekly school calendar as this is the foundation for all sports development in the country.

The government can use retired sports people at community level to help with this in schools, assist with identifying young talent and pass information to the relevant sports association for follow up.

Some of the sports competitions which are no longer on the sports calendar should be revived, for example, Bonite Cup, Nje Cup, UMITASHUMTA, UMISETA, SHIMIVUTA, Nyerere Cup, Michezo Ya Majeshi etc. All of these competitions, if revived and well-run, could attract more talent and would make it easier for the sports associations to identify the talent and build it up.

It is critical that upcoming athletes will start now to benefit from training and other schemes to ensure they can do their best at the games.

This could involve direct support to youth already identified to compete, providing training support, exposure to as much competition as possible through national and regional sports competitions, nutritional, medical and social support. Events could be organised to bring together young athletes for peer support through public activities, and exposure to existing medalists for coaching and general encouragement.

Many European countries have started to mobilise, for example, through the holding of roadshows around the country designed to raise awareness about the games and sport in general and providing young people with a chance to meet and Olympic winners and sports icons.

Youth also get a chance to try out new sports that they have not previously done and get general information about the games.

This type of event is also mixed with social events such as music and shows to develop interest. Such events can be inspiring and can help youth to keep their dedication and commitment to work hard to achieve success.

There are also practical areas that those who will be competing in the games will need support on. Pre-training centres around the country will be needed for those going to compete.

Looking at existing talent this type of support may be needed in Mwanza, Musoma and Kigoma for basketball, Arusha, Kondoa, Manyara for long-distance running while Mbeya, Iringa Rukwa, for ballgames and short-distance running.

All of this needs preparation and investment in training centres so that they meet the required standard and enable those competing to practice in the right environment.

All of this can be achieved through a mix of Government support and sponsorship from large companies and pre-planning among all of the various groups and committees so that competitors representing Tanzania have access to adequate resources to succeed.

This should be done in the early stages so that those in training now can get the right financial support and access to sports gear, equipment and transportation. I believe that with the Government, the Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC), the National Sports Council (NSC) and sports associations working together, Tanzania can achieve the best in the 2012 UK Olympics.

Mungu ibariki Tanzania.