The 2012 Olympic Games starts next week in England with the Malawi team represented by four athletes on solidarity.

The Malawi team has two athletes and two swimmers who were being accommodated at a University in London preparing for the high profile games before moving into Olympic Village.

It sad that Malawi, a country that got Independence from the British in 1964, has no single athletes who can beat Olympic qualifying time.

Much as the people would point fingers at sports associations for failing to churn athletes who can beat Olympic qualifying time, the athletes themselves are also to blame.

Even if the Malawi Olympic Committee and sports associations pump millions of kwacha in training programmes for the athletes but if there is no individual effort to hit the mark it is useless.

Most athletes use lack of equipment as an excuse for their failure but I do not buy that one. Even in the absence of good facilities, if the athletes have passion to train hard they can achieve the feat.

The problem with Malawian athletes is laziness and they like giving excuses whenever they fail.

For instance, the four athletes, who are representing Malawi, have been training at a well-equipped University for over a month but none has managed to hit the qualifying time.

It is either we have talentless athletes or they are lazy but lack of equipment should not be used as an excuse.

Malawi national netball team has no better facilities. They train on old and dilapidated court using substandard equipment, but it is one of the best in the world because they have a huge desire to win.

Chikoya Mphande won lightweight boxing championship using substandard training equipment. He did not go to Europe to train.

However, there is one male athlete, Chancy Master who has been on scholarship to Kenya for years but he has never hit Olympic qualifying time and yet Kenya is one of the best athletic nations in the world.

There is need for Malawian athletes to get organised and train hard. All what they need is passion to develop.