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Rio de Janeiro • Tatenda Tsumba spent Christmas Day alone in a hotel room in Jamaica. To actually provide the proper context to his exceptional holiday experience, the BYU junior-to-be sprinter spent the entirety of last December in the same hotel room preparing to train with the world's fastest human being.
The Zimbabwe track and field association organized the trip for the 24-year-old to escape the bitter cold of a Utah winter to fly to Jamaica and step onto the same track as world sprint stars Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake. The month spent running lane-to-lane beside Bolt and Blake was to prepare him for the 200-meter moment that came Tuesday afternoon in Rio de Janeiro.
"They kind of helped me, too, so today I didn't have stage fright because I've trained with the big guns before, so seeing them next to me, I'm like, 'Oh, I know this guy. I'm not scared or frightened,' " Tsumba reminisced. "[I] just have to do what I know best."
For the first 100 meters, Tsumba did. The Cougar sprinter burst out of the blocks and had an early lock on the second position needed to advance to Wednesday's 200-meter semifinal.
Then the most untimely of fades struck on the straightaway. It had been nearly a month since his last competitive race, Tsumba said, so when he started to wear out with 80 meters remaining, he could feel the dream of competing against either Bolt or Blake on a stage as grand as the Olympic Games was slipping away.
"My legs couldn't carry me forward," he said. "I had a great start, so I can take that from the race."
Ironically, while in Jamaica working with Bolt and Blake, Tsumba focused on improving his starts. Ironic because, as he explained in the mixed zone following his sixth-place finish of 21.04 in his men's 200-meter heat, the home stretch of the sprint is traditionally his strong suit of the race.
"Going into next year," he said with a smile, "we have to work on that last part of the race."
Tsumba's sophomore year in Provo featured a win in the men's 200-meter at the MPSF (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) Championships and the fifth-fastest time in school history at the Air Force Invitational posted earlier this year. Following his freshman year, Tsumba represented Zimbabwe at the 2015 IAAF World Championships last summer in Beijing. But it was a personal best sprint of 20.44 at the Chula Vista Olympic Training Center in late June that solidified his spot on the Zimbabwe Olympic team.
"The Olympics is something that you grow up watching," he said, "so to be a part it is overwhelming."
A flight back to Utah awaits Tsumba. He's bound for Provo by the end of the week. The fall semester is scheduled to start Aug. 29, and he's got to prepare for his four upcoming classes. Tsumba is an economics major, but is also minoring in marketing. Back at BYU, he's in need of another solid season, one that he hopes takes him back to the next IAAF World Championships next August in London.
Once Tsumba wrapped up his interview session, the roar of the crowd inside Olympic Stadium grew louder and louder. His old training partner Bolt, the Olympic champion with the golden spikes, was set to run in his 200-meter preliminary heat. Bolt playfully jogged to a first-place finish.
Minutes before, Tsumba spoke of looking ahead to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo: "I'll be ready to do better than I did today."
Twitter: @chriskamrani —
Olympic track and field
Men's 200-meter preliminary heat:
1. Nickel Ashmeade, JAM, 20.15
2. Adam Gemili, GBR, 20.20
3. Clarence Munyai, RSA, 20.66
4. Burkheart Ellis Jr., BAR, 20.74
5. Alexander Hartmann, AUS, 21.02
6. Tatenda Tsumba, ZIM, 21.04
7. Rolando Palacios, HON, 21.32
8. Theo Pinau, PNG, 22.14