Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Collin Matiza
9 July 2008
Harare — WITH just less than a month before the 2008 Olympic Games burst into life in Beijing, China, Zimbabwe's preparations for the world's biggest sporting jamboree are gathering pace with each passing day.
Yesterday, the chef de mission of Team Zimbabwe 2008, Thabani Gonye, announced that "everything was now almost in place" in their final preparations for the Beijing Games. Speaking to The Herald after holding his eighth meeting with the local management team for the 2008 Olympic Games in Harare last weekend, Gonye revealed that the final Zimbabwe team for the Beijing Games will be announced on July 18. He said they were expecting to enter their final team for the Beijing Games, which are set to run from August 8-24, on July 20. "We held our eighth meeting in the series of the meetings that we have been holding for Team Zimbabwe 2008 last Saturday. "At that meeting, we were basically looking at the (preparations) of the various athletes who have already qualified to represent the country at the Games and we were satisfied with the feedback that we received," Gonye said.
Gonye said although a number of other local athletes have not yet qualified for the Beijing Games, there were looking at sending "between 13 to 14" competitors to this year's Olympics. "Right now, we are still waiting to hear if we will get an additional slot for swimming and we are yet to receive a confirmation for (clay target shottist) Mike Nicholson's tripartite invitation for the Games. "So, at the moment we have 13 male and female athletes who have now made it into Team Zimbabwe 2008 and we are expecting to send about 13 to 14 athletes to the Games," Gonye said. Among the 13 athletes who have made it into Team Zimbabwe 2008 is young rower Elana Susan Hill who was recently selected by the Rowing Association of Zimbabwe to represent the country in the women's singles scull regatta at the Beijing Games. This follows a special invitation that the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee recently received from the International Rowing Federation for them to enter an athlete for the women's singles scull regatta at this year's Olympic Games.
The last time that Zimbabwe were represented in rowing at the Games was during the 1992 Barcelona showcase in Spain where Susanne Standish-White and Maggie Gibson took part in the women's coxless pairs event. They, however, returned home empty-handed and since that time, no other Zimbabwean rower has been selected for the Zimbabwe team to the Games. And all eyes will now be on 20-year-old Hill as she prepares to make her maiden appearance at the Olympic Games next month. Gonye said Hill will have her final preparations for the Beijing Games in South Africa before flying to the Chinese capital at the beginning of next month. The chef de mission of Team Zimbabwe 2008 also said that a number of locally-based athletes, who have made it into the team, have already stepped up their preparations for the Beijing Games. He said male marathon runner Mike Fokorani has indicated that he will soon be leaving the country for South Africa for his final tune-up for the Games. "Middle-distance runner Cutbert Nyasango is currently training in Bulawayo while female marathon runner Tabitha Tsatsa is currently in South Africa and will soon be returning home for her final preparations for the Games," Gonye said.
At the Beijing Games, Hill, Fokorani, Nyasango and Tsatsa will be joined by local swimming icon Kirsty Coventry and her fellow United States-based swimmer Heather Brand who have also qualified to represent Zimbabwe at the world's biggest sporting showcase. Also set to carry the country's flag in Beijing are sprinters Brian Dzingai, Young Talkmore Nyongani and Lewis Banda, long jumper Ngonidzashe Makusha, mountain bike rider Antipas Kwari, triathlete Chris Felgate and female tennis star Cara Black. At the Beijing Games, these athletes will be hoping to pick up more medals than the three -- one gold, one silver and bronze -- that swimming sensation Coventry won for Zimbabwe at the last Olympics in Athens, Greece, in 2004. Coventry's phenomenal achievement in Athens put to an end the country's 20-year wait for an Olympic Games medal. The last time that Zimbabwe had won an Olympic Games medal was at the 1980 Games in Moscow, Russia, where the country's "Golden Girls" of women's hockey grabbed a gold medal. After that, Zimbabwe took part in five more Olympic Games in Los Angeles, United States, in 1984, Seoul, Korea, in 1988, Barcelona, Spain, in 1992, Atlanta, United States, in 1996 and Sydney, Australia, in 2000 and all their athletes returned home empty-handed.
But that drought was finally ended by Coventry who took the 2004 Athens Games by storm as she swept to victory in the women's 200m backstroke event to win the country's its first Olympic Gold medal in swimming. She also picked up a silver and a bronze medal in the women's 100m backstroke and 200m individual medley events at the same Games in Athens.
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