About a fortnight ago in Riyadh – Saudi Arabia, Gloria Anna Muzito won Uganda her first ever gold medals in conventional swimming at the Islamic Solidarity Games.
Before swimming could end at the Games, Jesse Ssengonzi added 100m butterfly bronze to Olympian Muzito’s 50m and 100m freestyle golds, plus 200m freestyle silver to become the first Ugandan male swimmer to win an international medal of any kind.
“I am very proud of being able to get a medal for team Uganda,” Ssengonzi said at the time.
“Getting 5th in the 50m fly was a good wakeup call and I learned so much from the preliminaries, semi-final, and final that I was able to apply in the 100m fly. In both events I was not seeded to contend for a medal so getting so close in the 50m, which is currently my weaker event, gave me some confidence that I had it in me to perform well. We also narrowly missed getting a medal in the mixed 4x100m free relay, so by the time it was time for the 100m fly I was raring to go,” Ssengonzi said.
The feats were a depiction of growth as it was the second consecutive time Ugandan swimming was achieving medal status at the Games.
In Konya – Turkey in 2022, Olympian Kirabo Namutebi bagged silver in 50m free while Paralympian Husnah Kukundakwe got two golds in the SM9 200m IM and SB8 100m breaststroke, then silver in the S9’s 400m free, 100m backstroke, and 50m freestyle, plus bronze in S9 100m free – making them the first Ugandans to win international medals in the sport.
Before that, Uganda were mere participants at the Games in the previous four editions.
Uganda is no powerhouse in world swimming but what cannot be underestimated is the systemic rise. From regional dominators to Islamic Games medallists, the growth has followed a certain pattern for the past 10 years.
Building from the ground up
In 2014, Uganda hosted the joint Cana (now Africa Aquatics) Zone III and IV Championships in Kampala and finished 6th with then young swimmers Nabil Saleh (seven gold medals) and Kimberly Hind (four gold medals) as the best performers for the hosts. Ssengonzi’s sister Rebecca (three silver and two bronze) and brother Jethro (one bronze) were the other medal winners as Uganda finished behind Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, Angola, and Mauritius.
Since then, there has been an agenda to dominate regional swimming and become a powerhouse in continental swimming. However, there was an outlier in Rebecca as she bagged 400m IM bronze and 100m fly silver at the Africa Juniors in 2015 in Egypt and later 50m fly bronze at the 2018 Africa Youth Games in Algeria.
In 2015, the two Zones elected to have independent events. Uganda won the 2015 Zone III (basically eastern Africa) Championships in Kampala but for the next five editions leading to 2021, the competition was won by the host nation because they presented more swimmers to win points.
Since they chose to restrict each country to two scoring swimmers per race, Uganda has dominated the competition – winning the last five editions since 2021 on the bounce.
While at it, Uganda has been attending the Zone IV (mostly southern Africa) competitions as a guest nation. The goals at Zone IV have always been different since Uganda cannot field a team big enough to compete for honours. So, usually, this is a test of how many medals Uganda can win – a chance to compare times with arguably the fastest age group swimmers on the continent.
It was undoubtedly competitive as Uganda managed only six bronze at the 2015 Zone IV edition in Luanda, Angola.
In 2016, Saleh got Uganda’s first Zone IV gold in Port Louis, Mauritius in the 13-14 boys’ 100m backstroke.
In 2017, Kirabo Namutebi got Uganda’s only three silver and two bronze medals at the competition held in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
In 2018, Saleh won his and Uganda’s second gold in southern Africa from the 15-16 boys’ 50m freestyle. By then it was unheard of for a Ugandan swimmer to manage 25 seconds in 50m free yet Saleh clocked 24.55 in Lilongwe, Malawi.
Uganda had another two silver and five bronze medals then from Saleh and musician Chameleone’s son Abba Marcus Mayanja, swimming in the 12 and Under age group.
Gold medals became a usual occurrence for Uganda going forward. In Windhoek – Namibia in 2019, Namutebi became the first female swimmer to win gold – with 13-14 girls’ 50m fly and 50m free triumphs. The latter came with a 27.74 meet record but overall, Uganda added four silver and eight bronze medals.
In Gaborone, Botswana in 2020, Namutebi won 100m and 50m free gold in the 15-16 girls’ age group. But Uganda also had one silver and three bronze medals.
When the competition returned in 2022 in Lusaka – Zambia, after Covid-19, Namutebi bagged three gold medals; 100m and 50m free, plus 50m breaststroke.
Uganda also had three silver and four bronze medals in the pool while Adnan Kabuye also got open water swimming silver. For the first time, Uganda also fielded masters’ swimmers at the competition.
In 2023, Zara Mbanga bagged three gold medals in the 50m, 100m, and 200m breaststroke with the latter coming with an age group meet record (2:58.56) while her teammate Peyton Suubi added another in 200m fly as Uganda recorded its best ever performance. There were another two silver and five bronze medals before Uganda jetted out of Luanda.
Then at Windhoek 2024, Heer Usadadiya became the second male swimmer to win Zone IV gold – achieving it in the 15-16 boys’ 200m backstroke with an age group record of 2:14.13. Uganda bagged another three silver and three bronze medals.
Continental achievements
Through her Zone IV exploits, Namutebi built confidence and a base strong enough to challenge for continental trophies.
First were the 2019 Cana Junior 50m free and breaststroke gold medals and 100m free silver in Tunisia . She also bagged 50m free silver at the Cana Junior and Senior Championships in Ghana in 2021.
In 2022 she got Africa Aquatics Seniors 50m free silver in Tunisia becoming the first swimmer to win a senior continental medal. Last year in April, she won 50m free silver and 50m breaststroke bronze at the Africa Aquatics Championships in Luanda.
At the same event, Muzito bagged 50m free bronze and 100m free gold. A month earlier, Muzito had also won 100m free bronze at the 13th African Games in Ghana.
With such experiences, there is much evidence to show that Uganda has worked its way up to bag medals at the Islamic Games.
They could be cluster Games but they bring some of the best athletes from Asia and Ugandan swimming has every right to celebrate the gains made there.
“It was definitely a strong field. I knew going in, there would be a couple of guys faster than me. The butterfly events were quite deep this year. This was a great opportunity to race against and try to beat some world-class talent,” Ssengonzi said.
If the same trajectory is followed, then it will not be long until Uganda makes waves at the world stage.
The continued struggle to directly qualify a swimmer to the World Championships and Olympics is a major blemish. But Ugandan swimmers now have enough reason and demand to address this.
“I am aware of the significance of my performance and I understand how difficult of an achievement this is. Competition at these international meets is fierce on the male side and getting an international medal for Uganda has been a long time coming.
“I am proud to have been able to achieve this bronze but also it has lit a fire to keep pushing hard and progressing. I am heavily inspired by the performance of my teammate Gloria, who is topping podiums at the international level on the female side. To be the first male Ugandan to get an international gold will certainly take a step function of improvement, but it is my new and singular focus, for games at this level,” Ssengonzi said. He was speaking for the converted in the fraternity.
Jesse Ssengonzi’s major medals
Islamic Games – Riyadh 2025: 100m fly bronze
Gloria Muzito’s major medals
Africa Champs – Angola 2024: 50m free bronze and 100m free gold
African Games – Ghana 2024: 100m free bronze
Islamic Games – Riyadh 2025: 50m and 100m freestyle gold, 200m freestyle silver
Kirabo Namutebi’s major medals
Africa Jrs – Tunisia 2019: 50m breast and 50m free gold
Africa Jrs. and Snrs – Ghana 2021: 50m free silver
Islamic Games – Turkey 2022: 50m free silver
Africa Snrs – Tunisia 2022: 50m free silver
Africa Champs – Angola 2024: 50m free silver, 50m breaststroke bronze
Rebecca Ssengonzi major medals
Africa Juniors – Algeria 2015: 400m IM bronze, 100m fly silver
Africa Youth Games – Algeria 2018: 50m fly bronze
Africa Aquatics Zone IV Medals
Luanda 2015: 6 bronze
Port Louis 2016: 1 gold, 3 silver, 6 bronze
Bulawayo 2017: 3 silver, 2 bronze
Lilongwe 2018: 1 gold, 2 silver, 5 bronze
Windhoek 2019: 2 gold, 4 silver, 8 bronze
Gaborone 2020: 2 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze
Lusaka 2022: 3 gold, 3 silver, 4 bronze. 1 open water silver
Luanda 2023: 4 gold, 2 silver, 5 bronze
Windhoek 2024: 1 gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze