Running through a guide’s eyes

LIMBA MUPETAMIWINDHOEKDespite their lack of sight, the likes of Para athletes Ananias Shikongo and Lahja Ishitile are able to compete in top-level competitions thanks to their guide runners.At the moment, three guides are competing alongside Namibia’s Para athletes at the Tokyo Paralympic Games. These notable guides are Even Tjiviju, Sem Shimanda and Sydney Kamuaruuma.The three have been around for some time now - pursuing their own career paths in track and field, but coming out when duty calls to run alongside the finest Para athletes the country has to offer.They cannot run too fast, or too slow – they must be able to match their Para athlete's power and speed to ensure they don't slow them down.Chemistry at playTjiviju has been running alongside Shikongo since 2010. His specialty is the 100 m and 200 m.He says he has been trying to qualify for the Olympic Games himself, a journey he says is very tough. However, his attention shifts between his own career dreams and training with Shikongo, so that he too can achieve his goals.“To become a guide isn’t easy. Shikongo and I have come a long way. We know each other on and off the field and I must say that he is really hardworking,” says Tjiviju.He explains that in order to run alongside a Para athlete, you have to be a little faster than him or her.“If Shikongo runs 10.09 seconds, my speed should at least be 10.05 seconds,” he said.Luckily the two have been complementing each other well over the years. Shikongo claimed notable success in the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro with Tjiviju’s help.He won three medals, placing third in the T11 100 m and coming first in the T11 200 m. He won the 200 m with a Paralympic record time of 22.44 seconds as well as the 400 m.Over the weekend, he ran alongside Shimanda and bagged the country's first silver medal at the Paralympic Games after running a time of 51.14 seconds.Overcoming setbacksPara athletes need guides because due to various circumstances, most of them tragic – they cannot see.Shikongo lost his eyesight at a young age. When he was four years old, he lost his left eye in an accident when his brother tried to shoot birds using a bow and arrow.Three years later, while working in a field, a donkey kicked him in his right eye, resulting in him losing sight in that eye too. Looking to the future after this tragedy, Shikongo leans on his guides to help him accomplish his dreams.His dreams continue once again today as he is scheduled to compete in the 100 m heats. When he settles into the blocks to start the heat, Tjiviju will again start alongside him – hoping that the chemistry will once again come to play. The two will be attached to one another with a band at the wrist or hand.What’s to comeTjiviju will provide everything a runner with vision has, from informing Shikongo how far they are on the track, to where they are in comparison to other runners or what they must do to win the race.Another guide, Kamuaruuma will step up to guide Ishitile in the 200 m heat today. They have already competed in the women's long jump where she came seventh with a distance of 4.52 m, as well as the 400 m heat, where she took third spot and failed to make it through to the semi-finals.Ishitile only started running by chance after she decided to make the best of an early life tragedy. By the age of seven she started losing sight in her left eye and it later spread to her right eye.Her condition gradually worsened and by the age of 11 she was completely blind. The school she attended - Eluwa Special School in Ongwediva - provided a supportive environment and that is where she started excelling in sports.Slowly she climbed the ladder of sporting success. In 2013 she competed at her first South African Disabled Championships and made an immediate impact, winning six medals in the U/20 and senior categories. In the same year she competed at the IPC World Championships in Lyon, France, where she reached the finals of the 100 m and 400 m, finishing fourth in the latter in a personal best time of 1:04,27.Nambala on path to gloryAnother Para athlete, Johannes Nambala, is visually impaired but can run unassisted.In 2013 he became the first Namibian to win a gold medal at an IPC Athletics World Championships, when he won the 400 m sprint in Lyon. In Rio de Janeiro, he won two silver medals.In Tokyo so far, he has lost the 100 m race after finishing in sixth spot on Sunday. Nambala will run in the 400 m heat on Thursday.

Running through a guide’s eyes

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-16

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Running through a guide’s eyes

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-16

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