Thanks for the memories, Kirsty!

NewsDay

By Conway Tutani

17 August 2012

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened,” quoted United States swimmer Michael Phelps — the most decorated Olympian of all time with 22 medals — announcing his retirement from the sport at the just-ended 2012 London Olympics.

This rather poignant remark also applies to our own champion swimmer Kirsty Coventry, who this time around came out empty-handed. But she did not disgrace herself, having previously won three medals — a gold, silver and bronze at the 2004 Athens Olympics — and four medals — a gold and three silver — at the 2008 Beijing Games. Her time has come and gone.

Zimbabwe hasn’t produced a steady stream of top-notch sportspersons, for various reasons, among them the issue of demographics.

Zimbabwe’s total population of about 13 million is much less than that of Beijing at 20 million, so the pool of talent to tap from is much, much smaller compared to China which came second on the London medals tables. This is a big reality which can’t be ignored. That said, other factors are that we are still paying the price of previous failed sports administrations and that the school sports system which used to churn out champions regularly has almost disappeared.

“I don’t think Zimbabweans really appreciate the obstacles that Kirsty has had to overcome. We always assume that gold medals are easy to come by . . ., ” said Sports minister David Coltart.

There I beg to differ with Coltart because Zimbabweans are not easily given to assumption because of the hardships they have faced over the past 12 years, many of which were imposed punitively from the top to keep them in line.

So, they don’t take many things for granted having suffered and endured disappointment after disappointment. They know that Coventry tried her best, but her best was not enough this time.

Time catches up with each and every one of us. Things end. It has to as it has begun. Coventry didn’t overstay, she still made it to the finals in a global event — she bows out with her head held high.

This is a stark reminder to those politicians we are still saddled with who are clearly past their prime both mentally and physically. Instead of handing over the baton, all they are now doing is slowing the nation down — and the results are there for all to see.

They are resisting change, but in this political marathon it is all over for them bar the shouting. They won’t last the course despite occasional bursts of speed. You don’t win through fits and starts.

But as Coventry struck Olympic gold, she also struck a blow for acceptance that — white, black or any colour — we are all Zimbabweans.

She — in her small but significant way — advanced the cause of racial tolerance. It showed people the falsity of buying into the myth of labelling all whites as basically racist monsters. That was the direct effect of her indirect contribution to the Zimbabwean political discourse.

Indeed, the Olympics have served to debunk racial myths, the most spectacular being at the 1968 Mexico Games where two black athletes from the United States made history by staging a silent protest against racial discrimination back home.

The pair — Tommie Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze medallists in the 200m — stood with their heads bowed and a black-gloved hand raised in a black power salute as the American national anthem was played during the medal presentation ceremony.

At a Press conference after the event, Smith said: “If I win, I am an American, not a black American. But if I did something bad, then they would say ‘a negro’.” They had been advised by a friend, a university professor, to refuse “to be utilised as ‘performing animals’ in the Games”.

Yes, they did not author the statement, but they believed and stood by every word in it.

Fast-forward to 2003: Just before their first match of the Cricket World Cup, Zimbabwean cricketers Andy Flower and Henry Olonga donned black armbands, to mourn the “death of democracy” in Zimbabwe and draw attention to basic human rights denied to many of their fellow countrymen and women.

In response, the then Information minister Jonathan Moyo labelled Olonga an “Uncle Tom” who had “a black skin and a white mask”, adding he was “obviously forced into putting his name to a statement which he clearly did not author”.

Some things never change. We are still in this same sorry state of affairs. The establishment, as usual, was in self-denial, reiterating the myth of apolitical sport but at the same time tightening its grip on the national cricket team.

Fast-forward to 2008: Zimbabwe Olympic Committee head Paul Chingoka described Coventry as “our national treasure” and President Robert Mugabe called her “a golden girl” and awarded her $100 000 in cash for her performance in Beijing.

Coventry raised the Zimbabwe flag proudly high. This despite her race being treated as scum in a throwback to the dark days of ignorant and legalised racial segregation, and undeterred by the likelihood of being, in her case, labelled an “Aunt Tom” with “a white skin and a black mask”.

In her quiet way, Coventry did wonders for Zimbabwe. We need to remind each other of these lessons now and then lest they recede from memory forever.

Thanks for the enduring memories, Kirsty!