Fabian Muyaba – The Great Sprinter with a Skewed Tale

Fabian Muyaba 

By Tapfuma Machakaire

                                                                                                           9/11/2022

At the height of his career as a top athlete in the 1990s, former Zimbabwean sprinter Fabian Muyaba may not have received the same hype as fellow high- flying sports personalities such as Peter Ndlovu, Kirsty Coventry, Bruce Grobbelaar, Benjani Mwaruwari and others. This is despite that Muyaba was one of the fastest sprinters in the history of Zimbabwe. He was the second black Zimbabwean after Artwell Mandaza to represent the nation at the Common-Wealth Games and Olympics respectively.

In the mid 2000’s Muyaba was ranked 14th fastest man in the world.

Fabian Kabwe Muyaba was born in Zimbabwe on 30 September 1970. He went to Churchill Boys High School in Harare. He became a professional athlete soon after completing his secondary education.Veteran sports Administrator Robert Mutsauki took him through the ZRP atheletics club where he rose to be a star sprinter.

In 1987 at the age of 17, Muyaba competed in the regional zone six championship where he won two gold medals. The following year he won two more gold and a silver medal.

In June 1990 the young man pulled a surprise when he broke the national record set by one of the country’s greatest sprinters, the late Artwell Mandaza, in 1969. Muyaba had come first in the 100m race at the Chibuku International Track and Field Championships at the National Sports Stadium in Gaborone, Botswana in a time of 10.15 seconds which was 0,01seconds faster than Mandaza’s record.

Mandaza was the first black person south of the Equator to run 100 metre in 9.9 seconds in Welkom, South Africa in 1970. Mandaza’s record was, however, disallowed due to excessive wind speed thus denying him the honour of being the fastest man in the world in the 1970’s.

Following his string of success on the track Muyaba represented his country at the world junior championships in Sunbury in Canada in July 1988 where he came 8th and reached the semi-finals of the 200m race at the same event.

In 1991 Muyaba was awarded an athletics scholarship to study in the United States of America. Just one year after his arrivals in the US, Muyaba represented his country in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

Muyaba managed to equal and maintained his own record in Knoxville. Tennessee in the US in May 1993.

In the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, Muyaba raised the Zimbabwean flag high again when he competed in both the 100m and 200m contests scoring a 10.75 and 21.66 seconds, respectively.  Muyaba managed to defend his 100m record for almost 17 years before it was broken by Gabriel Mvumvure in the mid-2000s. Mvumvure’s personal best in the race was 9.98 seconds which he clocked in 2013.

Muyaba’s career and reputation took a knock in June 2009 when he was convicted of tax fraud and slapped with a 10 year prison term.

The former top athlete who returned home in 2019 insisted that he was jailed for a crime he did not commit. He told a Herald reporter in February 2021 that he had a successful business in which he got indicted for conspiracy to prepare fraudulent tax returns. “Knowing my innocence, I refused any plea deals and took my case to trial. I was found guilty and I accepted that. I was sentenced to 10 years in prison which was later reduced after I appealed.”

Muyaba described the jail time as a dark moment in his life. “We only have one life and I believe in giving it the best every day.”

Muyaba said he was keen to help upcoming sprinters in Zimbabwe to get sports scholarships in the US. “My goal is to help these youngsters get scholarships and free education in the US.” He said he had a great network sports coaches at universities in the US whom he could utilise to secure scholarships for young sprinters.

Reacting to Muyaba’s statement coach Mutsauki said he was fully behind the initiative. “The athletics project that Muyaba wants to embark on is a commendable one and in giving back to the community he has my full support. He was one of my very promising proteges. While he achieved a lot, it is unfortunate that he did not manage to realise his full potential partly because of injury.”Muyaba hung his spikes in 1996 due to a nagging Achilles tendon injury.

The proposed project was also applauded by fellow Olympian and long distance runner Abel Chimukoko, popularly known in the US as the Athlete of Zimbabwe. Muyaba has been described as one of the most famous and loved celebrities of all time.