The Sunday News
By Phineas Mukwazo
11 August 2012
THE forgettable showing by the Zimbabwe Olympic team at the games in London should be a cause for concern for all.
The nation is finally paying the prize for riding on the success of both past and current success such as swimmer Kirsty Coventry and the Black brothers as reality dawns on our sponsorless pathetic sporting scene.
The Zimbabwean sporting culture is so rotten to the bone marrow with the chief contributor to the status quo being the Government.
Perhaps, now that Vice-President Joice Mujuru has lamented the shambolic state of sport in Zimbabwe that has seen the country send the smallest team ever to represent the country at the Olympics will go a long way in changing attitudes.
Sadly, is there any reason to hope, more so as over the years we have seen a Government That had chosen to take the back stage while sport was dying in the country?
While we are still in deep mourning there is every reason for retrospection.
Recently sports minister David Coltart came face to face with reality at the Olympic Games following the failure by medal hopeful Coventry to make any headway in London.
He should be CONGRATULATED because his comments on the performance of Kirsty were an admission of guilty and it epitomises the death of the jewel called “sport†in this country.
Coltart said Coventry had done surprisingly well (sic), overcoming incredible odds that included lack of financial support and injuries to reach the finals of the London Olympic Games.
This was after Zimbabwe’s swimming sensation’s disappointing show on a Tuesday in which she finished sixth in the final of the 200m individual medley — a few days after finishing seventh in the 100m backstroke.
Coventry won medals in both events in 2004 in Athens and Beijing’s 2008 games.
Coltart said Coventry’s spirited performance, in the face of so many challenges, epitomised the grit and determination of Zimbabwean sports competitors.
“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, but the fact is after the Beijing Games she effectively retired and she didn’t swim for over a year.
“And when she came back into the sport she didn’t have the environment of her old university and her old coach,†Coltart was evidently at pain to justify why “Ma Siziba†was not performing according to expectations. The minister went on to say at one point, the swimmer dislocated her knee and was infected with pneumonia.
Getting gold in the Olympics is one way of getting sponsors, but Coltart said this has not been the case for Coventry.
“She has not had a lot of financial support and has been very isolated and only raced two competitive races prior to the London Olympics. So, when you compare that build-up to all her competitors, you will see that what she has achieved is absolutely remarkableâ€.
Alongside Coventry, triathlete Chris Felgate, Rowers Jamie Fraser McKenzie and Micheen Thorncroft, the marathon trio of Cuthbert Nyasango, Wirimayi Zhuwao and Sharon Tawengwa represented the country. They all didn’t make any headway.
Apart from the medals Coventry won in 2004 and 2008, Zimbabwe scooped gold in the Moscow games after its admission into international sport in 1980, following years in the wilderness due to sanctions imposed on the Ian Smith regime.
Coltart went on to advise the Government (which he is part of) to come up with a strategy to identify and nurture talent to lead the country’s athletes to greater heights, including making sport development a financial priority and integrating sports into the school curriculum.
Well-said Coltart, but paying lip service to such noble ideals, is at variance with action and that won’t rescue the sports from the current quagmire. The taste of the pudding is in the eating, Minister Coltart!
Has anyone questioned why there were so many “Chefs†accompanying the athletes to London?
The “gravy  train†(no pun intended) included seven athletes, 14 OFFICIALS and FOUR dignitaries.
Perhaps, that is beside the point, but it is rather weird for officials to outnumber the real people we expect to win medals for  the country?
To Coltart, as the responsible minister for sports, the time is nigh for us to produce the likes of the Golden girls of 1980 and another Kirsty in the pool?
Tennis was once a thriving discipline during the time of the Black siblings, Byron, Wayne, and Cara.
Our tennis saw us having the world on our feet buoyed by resounding victories over superpowers such as England and Australia.
Byron formed the core of the Zimbabwean Davis Cup team with his brother Wayne.
Byron went on to reach the quarterfinals of the US Open and Wimbledon. His highest career singles ranking then was World No. 22, which he achieved in June 1996.
An accomplished doubles player, Byron became World No. 1 in doubles in February 1994. He won the 1994 French Open partnering Jonathan Stark. Byron was a doubles finalist in three other majors, the 1994 and 2001 Australian Open and 1996 Wimbledon.
Those were the days.
But, since the retirement of the Black brothers from Davis Cup tennis, the Zimbabwe team has fallen from the dizzy heights of the World Group to the less glamorous Euro/Africa Zone groups.
Our hearts bleed more profusely for the stagnation of our once revered sports of cricket, boxing, athletics, bowls, soccer, and others.
That was the reason why way back in 2006 we advocated for the creation of a ministry solely for the sporting sector, which we needed yesterday and not tomorrow.
After being afforded the opportunity to travel to the Olympics, we call upon those influential among the dignitaries who travelled to London to seriously lobby Government for the inception of the eagerly awaited youth development policy across all sports codes.
WE have done that in the past, unfortunately our pleas have been largely ignored, not for lack of merit but sheer expediency from the officialdom.
To the athletes, it does not matter how deep you fall; what matters is how high you bounce back.
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