Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Augustine Hwata
29 September 2007
Shanghai — THE Zimbabwe Special Olympic Team to the World Summer Games arrived here yesterday afternoon after a grueling 17-hour journey, which saw them stopping in two commercial capitals on the way.
The 30-member delegation left Harare at 7.20am on Thursday aboard a South African Airways flight for Johannesburg.
There was a three-hour wait before the team connected into a Cathy Pacific Airways A340-300 airbus which took them across the Indian Ocean for Hong Kong where they arrived at 7 am. By that time Zimbabwe was at peace with itself as it was shortly after midnight.
Another connecting flight left the city on the shores of the South China Sea and reached the final destination of Shanghai at 2.24pm (6.24am local time).
The team of 19 athletes, seven officials and two parents who have accompanied their intellectually challenged children was immediately met by three Chinese university students, volunteers to the Games, who have been assigned to Zimbabwe.
Team Special Olympics Zimbabwe attracted most of the attention when they arrived at the same time with the United States, Tanzania, Myanmar, Palestine and Uganda as they burst into song and dance to the amusement of all at the airport.
"Zimbabwe are an exciting team and we have been waiting for a long time to see you.
"You can see that most people are now happy," said Zhu Liping who is attached to the team.
But there was sad news when the team failed to locate three of their bags on arrival at Shanghai although hopes were high that it was just a slight mix-up.
The Zimbabweans are based in the town of Pujiang and immediately left for their Games village.
Head of delegation for the team, Michael Mazonde, said he was happy that they had managed to bring the intellectually challenged athletes all the way from Zimbabwe without a major incident.
"The whole arrangement was just superb. We do not have any hitches to complain about and it was good that these athletes were all well behaved even on the long trip between South Africa and Hong Kong.
"Everyone has arrived in high spirits and we need to take a rest before seeing the programme," he said.
Muzonde said the team was likely to go sight-seeing in their host town today.
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