After the Athens Olympics, Mugabe gave Kirsty Coventry (below) - the triple medallist - a diplomatic passport and $50, 000 as "pocket money." Kirsty's performance in Athens created a sensation that transcended racial divides across the country. By Columbus Mavhunga.
Zimbabwe has been grabbing a fair bit of international headlines recently as elections first turned to violence and then a farce as 84-year-old President Robert Mugabe engineered another `victory' at the polls. Sports fans in the south African country, which was once considered as a beacon of hope on the African continent, are now hoping that they will be able to grab a different kind of headline as Zimbabwean athletes participate at the Beijing Olympics. Ironically they are pinning most of their hopes on a white swimmer.
The diminishing 30,000-strong white community has been the target of vitriolic political attacks by Mugabe and ruling party officials. Whites are repeatedly accused of supporting and bankrolling opposition - with the support of the West to topple Mugabe. On several occasions they have been threatened with arrest and deportation.
Athens Olympic Champion Kirsty Coventry, however, is worshipped by black and white and since returning to Zimbabwe with three medals from the last Olympics she is called `Golden Girl' or `National Treasure.'
In a country whose economy is on the brink of collapse - many would say it has already collapsed - sports facilities are either in a terrible state or no longer exist. Zimbabwe's best hope of achieving success has to be foreign based athletes like Coventry.
Athletes from six different codes will be going to the Beijing Olympics but it seems everyone is talking about Coventry and to some extent the country's top female tennis player Cara Black. Both are whites. After the Athens Olympics, Mugabe gave Coventry - the triple medallist - a diplomatic passport and $50, 000 as "pocket money." Kirsty's performance in Athens created a sensation that transcended racial divides across the country.
"Given that Kirsty has the training facilities for such a big event, she has all the hopes of Zimbabwe. Government cannot provide that."
Clifford Nhokwara, a sports administrator in Zimbabwe, said the preparations for the Beijing Olympics for professionals like Coventry was on course but was worried about the athletes based in the country.
He said: "As far as preparations are concerned, we are dealing with professionals, and the Olympics is just another addition to the tournaments on their calendar. These guys are already on the circuit. Those that need a lot of preparations are the locally based who compete against less equipped athletes from Mbare or Mabvuku (poor townships in Harare)." Since Zimbabwe got its independence from Great Britain 28 years ago, only Coventry and a female hockey team in 1980 at the boycott-hit Moscow Olympics, have brought back Olympics medals.
DPA
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