Stephanie Munageni Katusuva, a 12-year-old self-taught gymnast from Oshiteyi village in the Omusati region, recently became the recipient of a scholarship from Olympic Solidarity through the Namibia National Olympic Committee (NNOC).

The young girl, who gained popularity after a video of her performing for fellow learners at Ogongo Combined School in February 2020 went viral, was awarded the scholarship by the NNOC, which will see her attend school at Windhoek Gymnasium Private School and train at Windhoek Rhythmic Club.

Speaking during the announcement, Namibia Sports Commission chairperson, Joel Matheus, said one needs certain factors to identify talent but in Katusuva’s case it was love at first sight in terms of sport as she is clearly a talented young athlete.

“I got your video from a friend and all I will say is you are one day going to have your name in the Namibian sport books because your talent shows that as sport administrators, we need to go deep down to the rural areas of Namibia to unearth talent,” he remarked.

He added that Katusuva’s performance and hard work will get her to the top but her character will keep her there.

Neville Andre, vice president of the Namibia Gymnastics Federation, said Katusuva showed that she has raw talent and as a federation, they spoke to a number of clubs to come on board and help nurture her talent.
“Our goal is to take the game to the people so we can find more talent and as a federation we need to roll up our sleeves so we can find more talent in places where we think there is nothing,” said Andre.

Speaking at the same occasion, Wietsa Snyman from the Windhoek Rhythmic Club said she saw a video of Katusuva doing a leg split and it showed she is naturally talented because many gymnasts struggle to do splits in the beginning.

The young girl’s mother, Loide Kangombe, said she always wanted her daughter to study at Windhoek Gymnasium Private School but due to financial constraints, she could not afford the fees; now she is happy and hopeful her daughter will make the best out of the opportunities she has been given. –Nampa