Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Collin Matiza
23 July 2008
Harare — THE first batch of 13 locally-based athletes and officials, who were recently selected to represent Zimbabwe at next month's Olympic Games, are scheduled to leave the country for Beijing, China, on July 30.
Robert Mutsauki, Zimbabwe Olympic Committee chief executive, said yesterday that the team of 13 athletes and officials will arrive in the Chinese capital in time to fully prepare themselves for the Summer Olympic Games which are set to run from August 8-24.
The bulk of the locally-based athletes, who were named in the 13-member Team Zimbabwe 2008 last Friday night and are scheduled to leave for Beijing on July 30, includes debutants Mike Fokorani, Tabitha Tsatsa, Cutbert Nyasango, Antipas Kwari and Elena Susan Hill.
The team will be flown to China by Ethiopian Airlines, who are the official carriers of Team Zimbabwe 2008 for the Beijing Olympics.
In Beijing, Fokorani and Tsatsa will represent Zimbabwe in the men and women's marathon races while Nyasango will run in the men's 10 000m event.
Kwari and Hill will also be making their maiden appearances at the Olympic Games in Beijing where they will compete in the mountain bike event and women's rowing singles scull regatta respectively.
The five athletes will fly out to Beijing on July 30 accompanied by eight officials, namely athletics team manager Tendai Tagara, swimming team manager Kathy Lobb, rowing team manager and coach Kerrie Mackie, cycling team manager and coach Wayne Davidson, team doctor Munhamo Chipandu, physiotherapist Gillian Mudzengi, Press attache Lovemore Banda and Stanley Mutoya, the Olympic Youth Camp manager.
The group is expected to team-up with Thabani Gonye, the chef de mission of Team Zimbabwe 2008, who is expected to fly out to Beijing on July 26.
Upon his arrival in Beijing, Gonye will attend the main delegation registration meeting on July 29 where he is expected to submit the final list of Zimbabwean athletes and officials for the Olympic Games.
The rest of the members of the Zimbabwean team for the Games, who are based outside the country, are expected to arrive in Beijing a few days before the opening ceremony of the world's biggest sporting showcase on August 8.
The foreign-based Zimbabwean athletes that are expected to team up with the rest of the team in Beijing are United States-based swimmers Kirsty Coventry and Heather Brand, sprinters Lewis Banda, Young Talkmore Nyongani and Brian Dzingai, long jumper Ngoni Makusha, triathlete Chris Felgate and female tennis star Cara Black.
In Beijing, Coventry will be out to defend her women's 200m backstroke title, which she won at the last Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, in 2004.
Apart from competing in the women's 200m backstroke event, Coventry will also take part in the 100m backstroke and 100 and 200m individual medley events.
Her fellow swimmer Brand will carry the country's hopes in the women's 100m butterfly event while Black will compete in the women's tennis singles competition for the third time in a row at the Games.
Black made her debut appearance at the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, in 2000 before representing the country again at the last Games in Athens in 2004.
But there was no joy for Black at both events where she failed to go beyond the second round of the women's singles and will be hoping for a change of fortune this time around in Beijing.
Sprinters Banda, Dzingai and Nyongani are also looking forward to the Beijing Games where they will be out to put behind the disappointment of failing to reach the finals of their respective events at the last Games in Athens.
In Beijing, Dzingai will run in the men's 200m event while Nyongani and Banda will carry the country's flag in the 400m competition.
Unlike Banda, Dzingai and Nyongani, the in-form long jumper Makusha will be making his maiden appearance at the Olympics in Beijing and a lot is expected from the young athlete after his recent exploits in the United States where he set a new national record.
Makusha, who is on an athletics scholarship at Florida State University, set a new national mark in his favourite event when he leapt 8.30 metres during the NCAA outdoor track and field championships at Des Moines in Iowa on June 12.
This was the fourth-best jump in the world this year, the best in Florida State University's history and the best Drake Stadium in Iowa has ever seen.
And Makusha will be hoping for a repeat performance at the Beijing Games.
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