Paris Olympics 'beyond my wildest dreams' for Auburn sprinter

AUBURN, Ala. – Bearing the flag of his native Zimbabwe during opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics, Auburn sprinter Makanakaishe Charamba floated by boat down the River Seines to the Gardens of the Trocadero in France.

“Lifting up my flag and waving it around on camera,” Charamba said. “Probably one of the best experiences of the Games.”

Charamba attended a meeting before the ceremonies that included USA flagbearers Lebron James and Coco Gauff, then saw James’ and his All-Star teammates on the USA men’s basketball team during their visit to the Olympic Village.

“I’m with these guys now,” he said. “The dream is coming true now. Walking around the Village and seeing people like Lebron James. It definitely made me feel like I belonged there, and I believe in the future, I’ll probably be up there.”

Charamba proved he belonged in Paris by advancing to the final of the men’s 200m dash.

“Execute my own race and leave everything else to God,” said Charabma, a student in Auburn University’s Harbert College of Business. “Never really thought I was going to make the final. The goal going there was just to have fun. Whatever happens happens.”

After finishing second in the first round and third in his semifinal, Charamba finished eighth in the final.

“A great experience,” he said. “My journey surpassed my expectations. Walking into the stadium and seeing my name on the boards was a crazy experience. This is the whole world watching.

“The audience is bigger than the NCAA audience. The nerves and tensions are high because you are facing the world’s best.”

Three of Charamba’s sprint teammates from Auburn’s 2024 NCAA runner-up team joined him in Paris: Kanyinsola Ajayi and Favour Ashe from Nigeria, and Azeem Fahmi from Malaysia.   

“A great pleasure and achievement for me, representing my country on the big stage,” Ajayi said. “A privilege to represent my school, too.”

After coming within a few hundredths of a second of winning the NCAA title, the Auburn sprinters are already planning an encore.

“I feel like 2025 will be a great season for us,” Ajayi said. “We’re going to try to keep the synergy and win the national title. Iron sharpens iron. If you want to get fast, you have to train with people who are faster than you so they can push you to that limit. It’s really helped me a lot.”

“We have raised the Auburn standard,” Charamba said. “We’ll use that momentum from this year to carry us. We want to make this a championship team. We’re still in the process of building but after next year, I believe it’s going to be one of those teams where people are going to say, ‘Auburn is here.’”

Reaching the Olympic final fuels Charamba for continued success.

“A huge confidence booster,” he said. “In the future, I don’t think I’ll be scared of anything because I ran in the Olympic Games and made the final, and now I’m regarded as the eighth fastest man in the world. Going forward, I don’t think I’m going to be nervous about anything because I’ve faced the best of the best.”

Charamba’s Olympic year got off to a slow start, when he failed to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Heading into the outdoor season, Auburn sprints coach Ken Harnden sought to reassure Maka, as Charamba’s teammates call him, that better times were ahead.

 “’Trust me and miracles are going to happen,’” Charamba recalls Harnden telling him. “I trusted him, trusted the process and was patient with everything. Things worked out. It was a blessing.”

Once their Auburn careers conclude, the sprinters hope to return to the Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles.

 “That has been my dream since childhood to compete with the fastest guys in the world,” Ajayi said. “It motivates me to keep working. Don’t relent. You need to keep working so you can get to that stage.”

But first, they hope to make another title run next season on the Plains.

“The work we put in and the belief and trust we have in each other,” Ajayi said. “You can achieve this if you are focused. Everything came together for us.”

“We were trying to show the world that Auburn was coming,” Charamba said. “It’s showing the world that we’re coming up and we’re about to be a force to be reckoned with.”

In the three years since he left Zimbabwe, Maka Charamba has won NCAA D-II championships in the 100m and 200m, a D-I championship at Auburn in the 4x100m relay and a team NCAA runner-up finish. Then came Paris, making the Olympic final and bearing the flag for his homeland.

“Beyond my wildest dreams,” Charamba said. “Coming to Auburn and winning a national championship in my first year in the 4x100, this journey has been beyond my expectations.”

Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer