Muwanguzi: Coaching at Tokyo is no consolation for regrets as an athlete

Dedication. Muwanguzi is deteremined to see young swimmers achieve the dreams he failed to achieve for himself. PHOTO/MAKHTUM MUZIRANSA

What you need to know:

  • Deep regret. Muwanguzi, who represented Uganda at the 2007 Fina World Championships in Melbourne, Australia, where he competed in the 50m freestyle and butterfly but never went to the prestigious Olympics, is driven by the urge to give athletes what he missed.

Muzafaru Muwanguzi has made a quick return to Tokyo – less than two weeks after departing with the Olympic team.

He is back to get the best out of para-swimmer Husnah Kukundakwe, who became the first Ugandan swimmer of any kind – adaptive or normal – to qualify on her own merit for an international event.

His initial trip to Tokyo in late July was his first Olympics despite having swimmers he nurtured make the grade since 2012. Uganda Swimming Federation (USF)’s liberal selection policy for coaches means that even the coaches that are not directly working with qualified or nominated athletes can accompany them – not only to the Olympics but any national team engagement.

Muwanguzi is credited with discovering and harnessing the talents of Jamila Lunkuse (Olympics 2012 and 2016), Joshua Ekirikubinza (2016) but had to watch from home as they went to the Olympics with his coaching colleagues selected by the swimming federation.

The Dolphins Swim Club coach would have loved to be in Tunisia as his protégé Kirabo Namutebi, who went to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with Ambala Atuhaire, won double gold at the Africa Junior Championships in 2019. 

If there were any doubts about him being Uganda’s most successful coach, that moment sealed it but he could only witness it via a YouTube link like the rest of us.

He has had a host of his other swimmers in other national teams – notably Elisha Ekirikubinza, Arnold Kisulo, Tendo Mukalazi, Adnan Kabuye, Darren Ssamula and Selina Katumba – to mention the few who have made it to international meets.

He has, however, also benefitted from the system that has seen him accompany athletes from other clubs like Avice Meya at major meets.

But Muwanguzi’s feat with Kukundakwe, 14, will stand out – not least because he had to “adapt and learn” how to handle a para swimmer when she moved, from coach Collin Wasswa Matovu’s Malta, to Dolphins in mid-2017.

Strong bond

The duo has developed such a special bond out of necessity so much so that during their layover in Qatar en route to Tokyo, they passed time by playing scrabble. Many who know Muwanguzi will be surprised by this as he is usually wont to sit in solitude cutting a no-nonsense figure.

The development of this bond can be traced back to the World Series in April 2018 in Singapore, where Kukundakwe struggled to train and compete after travelling without her coach. Among the first things that her manager and mother Hashimah Batamuriza first secures since then, are the coach’s travel requirements.

They have since been to London, Sheffield – posting better results – and now Tokyo together.
Few are dedicated to honing swimming craft as Muwanguzi is. Watching him, at Speke Resort Munyonyo, coach the national team that represented Uganda at the 2018 Cana Zone III Championships in Nairobi, he passed as a reflective thinker and left nothing to chance as he poured his soul into the swimmers; playing motivator in chief, technical and physical trainer, disciplinarian, and team member as he worked with three other coaches.

But even then, I hardly remember a downtime interaction with the swimmers. Kukundakwe has definitely brought out the child in him. All of which is aimed at “serving this sport better.”

At the time, he also served as USF vice president (technical 2017-2021) a position that meant he had to leave his post held from 2015 as president of Uganda Swimming Coaches Association (Usca).

“I have devoted most of my time to the sport but you cannot do it alone. We need a support system,” says the coach, who practices what he preaches by working with a group of others at Dolphins.

“The athletes need high-performance systems that prepare them to go for competitions and camps,” says Germany’s Leipzig University-trained coach, who is also at his best agitating for better things for athletes.
Muwanguzi’s philosophy is now tailored around developing a strong working relationship with his athletes and was clearly left incensed by his federation and Team Uganda managers when they insisted that Ambala travels to Osaka for a pre-Olympics camp even when it was clear the coach could not go because he had not had his second Covid-19 vaccine jab.

While in Osaka, Ambala contracted the virus and could not train for three weeks leaving Muwanguzi “frustrated that some people’s interests go beyond those of the athletes.”

It is this episode that sealed his decision to return home to continue working with Kukundakwe for the 10 days period between when the Olympics team left Tokyo to when the Paralympics one travelled there on Tuesday.

Such is his dedication to developing this symbiotic relationship that one parent says: “all the kids want is to satisfy him. It goes beyond medals, they are looking for that thumbs up or positive chat from him after every race.”

Meya, who is attached to his local rivals Silverfin Academy says; “I always felt strong and confident when I was with him because he is assertive, listens and encourages.”

Joshua, who is an engineer in San Francisco, US, admired his honesty as he always referred to one’s “times and was truthful with no sugarcoating. If you took it well, you knew where you had to go. That has helped me have honest reflections in life and set realistic expectations.”

Muwanguzi’s ‘open wounds’

Muwanguzi, who represented Uganda at the 2007 Fina World Championships in Melbourne, Australia, where he competed in the 50m freestyle (28.30) and butterfly (31.44) but never went to the prestigious Olympics, is driven by the urge to give athletes what he missed.

“Never at all,” Muwanguzi says, when asked if Tokyo will now bury the lingering wounds.

“Swimming and coaching are totally different. But also, the world was never fair to me as a swimmer because I was working hard but never got the opportunity to go [to the Olympics].

“The Olympics is a good experience altogether in terms of challenges and exposure. But nothing changes because these are the same people and swimmers we find at other meets.

But socially, it turns you up, gives you a different tune and shows that sport is a way of life. For example, in the sports village, where you find people of different cultures, sizes chasing the same goals.”

At a glance

Name: Muzafaru Muwanguzi
Date of birth:     November 1, 1979
Club: Dolphins
Roles: Coach, former USF vice president (technical 2017-2021), president Uganda Swimming 
    Coaches Association
Major competitions (Coach): 
World Championships,         Olympics
(Swimmer):     2007 World Championships