Oloume Ernest, President of the Cameroon Athletics Federation, talks on the ongoing athletics meeting in Yaounde.
There has been an increase in the number of competitions ever since you took over office as president of the Cameroon Athletics federation. What is responsible for this turn of events?
To be the president of the athletics federation, you have to be a lover of athletics and make sure all children who express a zeal for the sport are given the opportunity to practice. We have been organizing many competitions and this is the fifth athletics meetings since the beginning of the season and the fourth under my reign.
You know with athletics, when athletes cease to practice, their form drops. So we have made it a point of duty to organize many competitions for the athletes. The children are happy and this is manifested in their performances. At first there used to be only seven athletes who obtained the minimum record for qualification for the international competitions but now there are 19. The Minister was impressed by this performance.
What are the chances Cameroonian athletes in intentional competitions this year?
We are on good footing. If our athletes are put in camp in time, all will return from international competitions with at least a bronze medal. Things are not as they used to be before where athletes who did not qualify were taken to represent the country in international competitions. Now, if you are not qualified, you can't go anywhere. We are not here for tourism. We are here to leave a mark and that is through positive results.
What message to the athletes and the public in general?
I thank the athletes for their cooperation. During competitions like this, we give them something to eat which was not the case, before. I want to tell the Cameroonian public that there is some good news in the pipeline. I don't want to release the cats out of the bag before time but when the time will be ripe everybody will know about it.
