Confederation of African Canoeing President Joao Manual Da Costa Alegre Afonso is hopeful of seeing more paddlers from his continent compete at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games but insists that there needs to be a change in mentality and organisations to work together.
At Paris 2024, 13 African athletes raced in Canoe Sprint with a further five participating in Canoe Slalom.
Senegal’s Yves Bourhis was a big crowd favourite with his performances in Canoe Slalom in Paris, while Algeria’s Carole Bouzidi, Comoros’ Andy Barat, Morocco’s Mathis Soudi and Tunisia’s Salim Jemai also made their mark.
Andrew James Birkett, Tiffany Amber Koch, Hamish Lovemore and Esti Olivier all competed for South Africa in Canoe Sprint at Paris 2024.
Angola's Manuel Antonio and Benilson Sanda, Egypt’s Samaa Ahmed, Morocco’s Achraf Elaidi, Nigeria’s Ayomide Powei Bello and Beauty Akinaere Otuedo, Senegal’s Combe Seck, Sao Tome and Principe’s Herminia Teixeira Santana and Tunisia’s Ghailene Khattali were the other African sprint representatives.
“The participation of Africa in this Games has been good,” said Mr Afonso.
“In Africa, you have many problems so to come to an Olympic Games is a good opportunity for these athletes to challenge.
“It is a good experience for these athletes but if Africa wants to get a medal we need to work more.
“All the countries need to work and organise more and more competitions to allow these guys to participate in preparation for the World Championships and the Olympic Games.
“In Paris, many athletes come to participate and say ‘I need the experience’ so now it is time to stop saying ‘I need, I need, I need’ and just start saying ‘we go, we go, we go’.
“We need to change the mindset and work together.
“We have young people in Africa but we need to invest in them for them to be able to participate in the sport.
“Many countries have water in Africa so we need to use it for these guys to compete in canoeing.”
As well as being President of CAC, Mr Afonso is a member of the International Canoe Federation Executive Committee and is Vice President of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa.
“Our strategy [at CAC] is for National Federations to have good relationships with their National Olympic Committee,” said Mr Afonso.
“With Olympic Solidarity, there is money to put forward for these young people to participate in the sport.
“National Federations need to work together with the National Olympic Committees to priorities our sport.
“We want to go to Los Angeles with more athletes so we need to start work now so that these young athletes can prepare for four years and go to the Olympics.
“It not only depends on CAC but also the ICF and the National Federation to work together to represent Africa.”
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