Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Augustine Hwata
3 October 2007
Shanghai — ZIMBABWE'S Special Olympians received their fare share of applause from among the neutrals here when they marched into the Shanghai Olympic Stadium for the official opening ceremony of the 2007 World Summer Games last night.
The 19 athletes, six coaches and two officials had a handful of Chinese and other nationalities getting up from their seats to give them a standing ovation when Zimbabwe were called to enter the stadium.
The male athletes and coaches were dressed in red shirts and khaki longs while the women wore dresses made from a largely khaki material with small stripes in the colours of the national flag.
Clothes for the Special Olympic Zimbabwe team were tailor-made for the grand official opening ceremony and it was a refreshing sight from some nations which wore tracksuits.
Material for the attire was sourced through the Harare Mayor's Christmas Cheer Fund where SOZ where one of the charities which benefited to the tune of $20 million.
The money was then used to purchase cloth and a top-up was made for the tailors to come up with the attire. Sentiment among some people here had been that Zimbabwe would not be able to send a team due to the negative publicity the country has been subjected to by some international media organisations.
But to their surprise the nation has managed to field a decent number of athletes for golf, bocce, swimming and track and field.
The biggest applause for the night was obliviously reserved for hosts China who were the last in and walked just behind Zimbabwe.
China are fielding nearly 1 263 athletes -- 762 men and 501 women -- and are the only country to have entered for all the disciplines and events.
The United States of America (395), Great Britain, Russia (201) Australia, Hong Kong and Italy have also brought relatively larger groups of athletes while Congo-Brazaville's had four athletes and Timor-Leste could only afford one.
But it was not only Zimbabwe who appear to have supporters here in Shanghai as Iraq also attracted wild cheers along with the Chinese territories of Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Chinese President Hu Jintao officially declared the Games open last night at a colourful ceremony attended by the president of the International Special Olympics Timothy Shriver, his deputy Kirsten Seckler, the Mayor of Shanghai, and senior officials from the Chinese Communist Party.
Also in attendance were bodybuilder-cum-actor and now governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, producer Quincy Jones, actor Collin Farrel, Chinese basketball star Yao Ming and composer Tan Dun who are all Special Olympic ambassadors.
The celebrities all emphasised the need to support the intellectually challenged athletes so that they can be able to develop self-confidence and be able to feel that they are part of society.
The 2007 SOWSG will see 164 countries and Chinese territories fielding intellectually challenged athletes in 21 Olympic-type events starting today.
There are also four demonstration sports on offer. The Special Olympic's Flame of Hope was also lit in the Shanghai Olympic Stadium last night and will keep burning until the closing ceremony set for October 11.
This year marks the first time that the Flame of Hope for these Games has been lit in Athens, Greece and then travelled across all the continents (35 000km) on its way to the hosting city.
The Global Law Enforcement Torch run, itself a pivotal event in the lead-up to the Special Olympics Games, started the torch run on June 29, 2007 with 85 000 policemen participating around the world.
With the competitions roaring into life this morning, Zimbabwean athletes would be moving away from their host town of Pujiang where they have been based since Friday last week to hotels closer to each particular discipline's venue of competition.
The swimming team might remain at the Long Tong Business Centre while the track and field athletes are coming within easy reach of the Shanghai Olympic Stadium.
Meanwhile, bocce players Maria Bezuidenhout and Elinah Ndlovu will launch Zimbabwe's hunt for medals when the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games roar into life today.
According to a schedule released last night the two will be the only Zimbabweans in action today when they take part in the preliminary rounds of the Italian bowling competition in Jiabing this afternoon.
This district is further to the south-west of the main Shanghai centre.
Other disciplines have not been confirmed with the athletics head coach Owen Mharakurwa set to attend a meeting this morning to get the finer details on the schedule as his team moves to the Xuhui district within the environs of the Shanghai Olympic Stadium where the track and field competitions will be held.
Athletics start today with the middle distances, events which Zimbabwe has not registered for.
Swimming coach Beverly Crockoft is also expected to get a final schedule today as her team prepares to move to Pudong for the Games. The golf team will be moving to Songjiang and will only begin playing tomorrow.
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