Zambia, like many of the IAAF's 212 Member Federations, will only be sending two athletes to the IAAF World Championships later this month: Tonny Wamulwa will contest the men's 5000m while Elizet Banda will be on the start line of the women's 800m.
The two teenagers know that on this occasion they are not likely to add to Zambia's medal tally, which has been provided exclusively by the legendary 400m hurdler Samuel Matete who won in 1991 and followed up his triumph with two silver medals in 1993 and 1995, but they hope that their experience in Osaka will sow the seeds for successes in the future.
Teenage talent
"Maria Mutola is my heroine and I've been told that she went to her first World Championships when she was just 18. If I have a career as good as her then I will be very happy," said 19 year-old Banda, the Zambian senior 800m record holder who was a finalist over two laps of the track at both the 2006 IAAF World Junior Championships and the 2007 All Africa Games last month.
Wamulwa only turned 18 on 6 August but caught the eye when he finished an impressive ninth place in the junior race at this year's IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Zambia's best ever result in the event.
He also finished seventh over 5000m at the 2006 IAAF World Junior Championships and, barring any unforeseen problem in the next 12 months, Wamulwa will be one of the few people with a chance of breaking the Ethiopian and Kenyan dominance at the distance, who between them have won every 5000m medal at the last four Championships, when they are held in the Polish city of Bydgoszcz next year.
"It will be tough but I am sure running is Osaka will help me when I run in the World Juniors again," commented Wamulwa.
New dawn
Zambian athletes have often struggled to make their mark after Matete hung up his spikes in 2002, not helped by severe economic constraints in the country, but Wamulwa and Banda are just two of a new generation of talented performers who should soon start qualifying by right for major Championships.
Prince Mumba, the Zambian record holder over 800m and an NCAA 800m medallist indoors and out in 2006, and Obed Mutanya, fourth over 5000m at the 2000 World Junior Championships and the national record holder over 1500m and 5000m, have both graduated in recent months from universities in the United States and are looking to make big strides forward now that their studies are behind them.
Mumba just came up short of making it to Osaka but has already qualified for the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain.
Based still in Zambia, 400m runner Rachael Nachula and javelin thrower Miriam Mukulama have both set national senior records this year and the pair are still both only 17.
Like Wamulwa, Nachula and Mukulama are eligible to compete in Bydgoszcz and will be aiming to get Zambia's first ever medal at the IAAF World Junior Championships.
Phil Minshull for the IAAF
