Meet Tapiwanashe Makarawu, Tapiwa for short, from Zimbabwe. He’s a child of Salvation Army officers (pastors), a lifelong Salvationist, and an Olympic finalist. He ran in the Men’s 200m Final at the Paris 2024 Olympics, placing 6^th overall.

PEER: How did you get to the Olympics?

TAPIWANASHE MAKARAWU: It was quite a long journey for sure. It was my dream to run at the Olympics since I started running track when I was still in high school. I tried to qualify for the Tokyo games in 2021, but I couldn’t qualify. But I finally made it to the Paris 2024 Olympics due to qualification time that I made around 19.93 seconds, which was my personal best and my national record when I was at Texas Tech University for another track meet. So that’s how I made it to the Olympics. And it was quite a journey. It took hard training and dedication, prayer and commitment.

P: What was your favorite part of the experience? Least favorite?

TM: I’m going to say my favorite part was competing. It was my favorite because I could see my dreams coming true right in front of me. It was sort of like a déjà vu moment, you know? But my least favorite thing that I experienced in Paris, I must say, was the food. It wasn’t that really bad, but it was just too healthy, you know? It was just a variety of healthy food, you know? But I’m not complaining. It was too good, but it was just too healthy for everyone. But I really had fun in Paris.

P: Do you think the Salvationist lifestyle fits in with the culture of the Olympics/the Olympic village?

TM: Oh, yeah, it does. I was happy and excited to see some of the other athletes having faith in God, putting God first in everything. They do it. So, I really think that culture is good. When we were in the village, it was really good to see some people, if they failed, believing in God, that God can make everything possible.

P: What was it like to represent Jesus and your faith in front of the entire world?

TM: It was really exciting. It was really a tremendous honor, to be honest, because when I was in New Mexico during my first year, I realized that God gave me this talent, not for me to make a good living but to spread the word of God out there.

So, I realized, OK, I should spread the word of God through this talent that He gave me. Whatever I do and whatever I’m trying to do while running track is mainly trying to spread the word of God out there, telling everyone that God really exists and God really blesses everyone and God really, really loves us.

P: Many people struggle to live out their faith in their professional life. What advice can you offer to those people?

TM: In the Bible it says, “If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels” (Luke 9:26). That’s the word of God, that’s what He says. I think the advice that I would give to those people is not to be ashamed to spread the word of God or to share anything about God to the world because God is the creator of everything and He’s the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning of everything and the end of everything.

At the end of the day, whatever we do, whatever we have in our lives, He can take it, and He can give it to us anytime. It would be the best for them to just put God in everything they do, rather than being shy or being ashamed to spread His word.

P: How did you come to know Jesus?

TM: I was fortunate enough to be born in a family of prayerful people. My mom and my dad, they are pastors of The Salvation Army.

I am really fortunate to have my parents in my life because they encouraged me since I was in kindergarten to go to Sunday school and go to church every week. I also had the opportunity to play in the brass band, socialize, and interact with other people in church. I grew up in church. Everything that I did was only about church. It’s only about God. And that’s how I got to know God.

P: How does your relationship with God affect your athletic career?

TM: My relationship with God has to be the first thing in my career and everything because, like I said before, He is the one who gave me this talent. I have to give back everything that He gave me because He’s the owner of everything.

I have to give back everything and put Him first in everything because He knows the reason why He gave me this talent and He knows why I am running and why I’m doing this.

I really, really put God first and I respect the relationship that I have with God because everything that I have, everything that I am today, is because of Him.

P: Who are your biggest inspirations?

TM: My biggest inspiration is Letsile Tebogo, who won the 200 meters from Botswana. And Muzala Samukonga, from Zambia, he won bronze medal in the 400 meters at the Olympics. And most importantly, my role model, Usain Bolt—he really motivates me. I always watched videos of him running back in the day. I watched his story, how he become the world champion. He motivates me a lot.

P: How do you stay rooted in your faith while you’re working and competing?

TM: Reading the Word of God, praying every day. That’s how I stay in the faith, because the Bible teaches us everything. That’s how we can communicate with God: through the Bible and prayer.

P: What’s your life verse?

TM: Psalm 23. “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1, ESV).

P: It must be very challenging, both physically and mentally, to get to your level. What motivates you when things get difficult?

TM: One thing is looking back where I come from, looking how I grew up, because I wasn’t a fortunate kid that grew up in a family that had everything. We had to struggle to get some things. Sometimes it would be so tough that you can see, even as a child, that things are tough for you. But at the end of the day, you can see that this was good. Those are some of the things that motivate me each and every day to wake up and go to training, to wake up and go to class every day, knowing that I have family back home that I need to take care of. I have something that I have to give back to my community and give back to my church for everything that they did in my life to get me where I am today.

P: What encouragement would you give to Salvationist athletes who now look up to you?

TM: They just have to put God first before everything. Let me tell you, when I was in New Mexico, I used to pray like, “Ah, God, I want this, God, I want that, God, I want this.”

When I read the book of Exodus, I was comparing myself and the children of Israelites who were demanding things from God, you know, saying, “God, we want this, can you do this for us, can you do this for us?”

And God could do some things for them and some things He wouldn’t do, but always on His time. I learned from the book of Exodus that I have to put God first instead of demanding things from God. I have to put God first in everything because He knows the plans that He has for me and those plans are not to hurt me, but they are there to prosper me (Jeremiah 29:11). I have to trust the process and trust Him in everything that I do.

P: Can we expect to see you compete again in the 2028 Olympics?

TM: That’s my target. I started training in September for the 2028 Olympics. I’m trying to get that medal.

P: What’s next for you?

TM:  Right now, I’m at the University of Kentucky. I’m studying sports psychology. I’m pursuing my degree at the same time as pursuing my career in athletics. We’ll see how it goes. But as I see from now on, maybe next year or in two years’ time, I might go pro and then start running with any shoe company that signs me. From there onwards, I’ll continue pursuing my journey to get a medal in 2028.