SHEFFIELD (Julio Chitunda's African Message) - Moustapha Gaye seems to be a man that Senegal Basketball authorities have faith in. They seem to believe he can make the Olympic dream of their women's national team's come true.

Senegal's only previous Olympic appearance took place at the 2000 Sydney Games.

Since then, they have tried to repeat the experience three times, but have fallen short.

And Gaye was the man tasked to make it happen on two occasions.

In 2007, Senegal failed on home soil to seal direct qualification to the Beijing Games after a bitter defeat to Mali.

One year later, he led the Senegalese team that suffered two defeats to Latvia and Japan respectively, and were denied a place in the Quarter-Finals of the 2008 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women (OQTW) in Madrid, Spain.

The following year, Gaye and his team regrouped and won the 2009 edition of AfroBasket Women to qualify for the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women. They returned from the Czech Republic winless in five games, including two two-point defeats to China and Mali.

When AfroBasket Women 2011 in Mali came around, Gaye had another shot to qualify the team for the Olympics. 

They started off well, with wins over Nigeria and Angola, and reached the Final unbeaten in seven games.

Nevertheless, all of a sudden Gaye's dream evaporated against Angola, a team that they thumped in the Preliminary Round.

As a result of that defeat, the Angolans earned their first Olympic ticket ever, while Gaye and the Senegalese Basketball Federation parted ways.

Despite the defeat, they still had a chance to compete at 2012 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women - a qualifier for the London Games - held in Ankara, Turkey, but they withdrew.

Instead, Mozambique - who had finished fifth in the African Championship - went on to represent the continent along with Mali, while fourth-place Nigeria, who had the right to play in the OQTW, preferred to stay away.

Gaye's absence from Senegal's women's team only lasted three years.

Last month he was given the chance to attempt to take the national team to the Rio Janeiro Games.

When I heard the news of his re-appointment I thought that either Gaye is a lucky man or he is very skilled, and that's the reason the national federation believes in him.

Gaye replaced Moussa Toure, a very smart coach who led Senegal to a third-place finish at AfroBasket Women 2013.

Last week I asked Gaye what he was bringing to table this time around.

"My goal and the team is to qualify for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics," he told me without hesitating.

Although Gaye will only convene his group of players in July, he says he is already getting ready for the challenge.

He also said he has learned from previous experiences, and acknowledges that, facing the likes of Nigeria, Mozambique, Angola and Cameroon "will not be an easy mission because those are good teams with the same objectives as Senegal."

Toure, who is now working with the Tunisian U16 (Boys) team, knows a few things that might be helpful for his successor.

"We have good Senegalese players abroad, but we need to start focusing on home-grown talents as well," he told me.

By the time AfroBasket Women 2015 takes place in Cameroon, eight of the 12 players that last represented Senegal will be over the age of 30.

More than taking Senegal to the Olympics, Gaye has to be able to prove that the absence of their junior teams from international competition in recent years, has not damaged their development.

So if Gaye makes the Olympic dream a reality, then he should be credited for his persistence. 

Julio Chitunda

FIBA

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