A first medallion has continued to elude Team Tanzania at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games set to wind up on Thursday in Nanjing, China.
Female runner Dorcas Boniface Ilanda made a futile attempt to win the country at least a single medal in the women’s 1500m final at Nanjing OSC Stadium on Monday.
Dorcas competed in Final B and finished in second place after clocking 4 minutes 36.35 seconds, with Sylwia Edyta of Poland winning the group’s contest barely two seconds ahead of the Tanzanian girl.
However, the duo’s show was no near as best as Final A runners, who eventually scooped all three medals plus all top ten positions.
Dorcas finished 12th overall with Ethiopia’s Tesfaye Kokeb cruising to the gold medal in 4:15.38. Kenyan Mbithe Winfred took silver after clocking 4:17.91 and Bahrain’s Dalila Gosa (4:18.36) won the bronze.
Gosa’s time was her best in the distance. With a few days to go before the 2nd edition of the Youth Olympic Games close in Nanjing, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach was full of praise for the event, saying he really enjoys what he has experienced there.
“It is a great experience, just very enjoyable, to meet the athletes, to see the organization here is flawless. We don’t have any kind of problems to solve, we can just enjoy the games, enjoy it with the athletes, with the volunteers, with the people of Nanjing,” said Bach during an interview with Xinhua on Sunday.
“The organisation is seamless. It was a really great job. “It was a great combination of friendliness and efficiency at the same time. If you have the two together, you are guaranteed to have successful games,” he added.
The IOC chief noted that he was happy to see that the existing facilities have been made the best use of at the first Youth Olympics under his reign. “I’m very impressed by sustainable ways of the organization.
The other day, to give you an example, I was sitting in the BMX Stadium, somebody asking me, ‘Do you recognize these chairs?’ I said, ‘No, I have no idea’. He said, ‘You were sitting on the chair of Beijing 2008’,” said Bach.
“Then I said, ‘Congratulations, this is a very good idea and approach!’ He said, ‘Do not think that we bought them, we just rented them, if after the games the people from Beijing do not offer us a good price, we will send them back’.”
While many athletes say they are happy with everything at the Nanjing Youth Olympics, there is also concern over the scale of the Games here and whether a future host will be able to match.
Bach played down the anxiety by insisting that Nanjing should not become a blueprint for future Games. “The future organizers should think of their own games, should approach it through their way, the future games will hopefully be different from Nanjing, they will present a different idea of youth in a different way, but you can’t say that one way is better than the other,” he said.
Bach also echoed China’s IOC member Yang Yang, who said this week that success here at the Youth Olympics is boosting Beijing’s bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
“Of course, it can help… Nanjing shows one time more in which excellent way China is organising a big event, and the friendliness and hospitality of the Chinese people. It is a good showcase for China, and will, of course, support the bid of Beijing,” said Bach.
Beijing is competing with Oslo and Alamaty for the 2022 Winter Games. The IOC will select the host city by a secret ballot on July 31, 2015.
Source Tanzania Daily News