Zambian national team players have sent congratulatory messages to compatriot track-and-field athlete Muzala Samukonga after he successfully claimed bronze in the 400-metre final at the Paris 2024 Olympics on Sunday.
Sumukonga became the first Zambian in 28 years to win a medal at the quadriennal showpiece after finishing third with a national record time of 43.74 seconds.
This comes two years after he bagged a gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, where he broke Samuel Matete’s 31-year-old 400-metre national record of 44.88 seconds. Matete was actually the last Zambian to win any medal at the Summer Olympics, when he secured silver at Atlanta 1996 in the 400-metre hurdles.
While Zambia has also claimed a bronze medal in boxing through Keith Mwila, they have yet to win any medals in football. The closest they came to doing so was at Seoul 1988, where the Kalusha Bwalya-inspired Copper Bullets reached the quarterfinals after famously decimating Italy 4-0 in the group. However, they were on the receiving end of a similar scoreline against West Germany in the last eight.
Following Samukonga’s historic bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics, the Zambian men’s and women’s national team stars took to their socials to applaud the sprinter.
“Hats off, champ,” lauded Chipolopolo marksman Patson Daka.
Meanwhile, Copper Queens 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualification hero Hazel Nali wrote, “Congratulations, champ.”
Copper Bullets midfielder Kings Kangwa added, “Congratulations, my guy. Zambia is proud of you.”
Inonge Kaloustian, Emmanuel Banda, and Kennedy Musonda also congratulated the runner for his impressive feat on Wednesday.
The Copper Queens, who also graced the Paris 2024 Olympics alongside Samukonga, could not get past the group stage level after losing to the USA, Australia, and Germany, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Zambian men’s U-23 team failed to qualify for the competition after losing 2-0 on aggregate to Egypt in the preliminaries of the 2023 U-23 Africa Cup of Nations.
The senior Chipolopolo, who are obviously no longer eligible to compete at the Summer Olympics, are still trying to qualify for their first ever FIFA World Cup. The Copper Bullets have a mountain to climb in the 2026 edition of the qualifiers after suffering three defeats in their first four games in Group E.
