Leadership aims to grow AN's reach

Leon Nienaber from Erongo region was elected as president of Athletics Namibia with a strong majority, namely 26 out of the 32 eligible votes, at the association’s annual general meeting last weekend.

Nienaber had served as the vice-president in the previous board under Erwin Naimhwaka as president, with the latter not eligible for re-election, having served the maximum time allowed by the Namibian Sport Act.

Nienaber told Sport Wrap: “We would like to build on the good work done during the previous five-year term.

“We would love for Athletics Namibia to be a household name; for fairness to prosper and for the business community to be involved in our sport, which could make a difference in the lives of many people, especially our youth.”

In his final president’s report, Naimhwaka wrote: “The last five years have been very fulfilling in many respects, but also dissatisfying and stressful in some respects, where the potential is clearly visible but remains unrealised due to some binding constraints.

“I have been very lucky to have been accompanied in this journey by some fanatically passionate individuals who have contributed to the successes that we were able to achieve.

“I am immensely proud of the achievements we were able to reach in a very uncertain environment and with very limited resources. I am very thankful to the many volunteers who continued to avail themselves by sacrificing their time and resources, which ensured that we were able to facilitate platforms for the Namibian athletes to compete and showcase their athletic talents.

“Over the last five years, we were able to improve the standards of performances by our athletes here on home soil. We have been able to see more and more male 400 metres athletes regularly run sub-47 seconds on a consistent and with regularity.

“We have been able to see our women sprinters improve the standards of sprints and establish a strong core group of athletes that can grow to even higher levels.

“This has been a particular achievement if you think that we were struggling to fill an eight-lane draw for women across the track and field events at the National Championships. We were able to change this, and we now boast a good number of heats and athletes for many of the female events.

“We have seen an improvement of national records across many track and field events, and we continue to feature among the key nominations at the National Sports Awards, with our athletes and coaches winning in various categories.

“A total of about 37 national records have been broken since 2019 across the track and field and road running events, along with international medals at the Olympic Games, World Championships, Commonwealth Games, the African Championships and the All-Africa Games.

“Despite insufficient resources, athletes, coaches, officials, clubs and regions have continued to be committed and unwavering in their passion for athletics and the development of our athletes.

“I am grateful for the trust and confidence that the members have placed in me to lead the federation over the last five years. I have given it my best shot and I wish the incoming team success in the further development of athletics in Namibia.”

• On the list of elected executive board members (2025-2029) we published yesterday, two corrections need to be pointed out.

Madeleine Kotze (Khomas) will serve as secretary-general, while Nic Geldenhuys (Khomas) was elected as secretary of finance.