Zim diving, a sad story

IT was one of the aquatic sporting disciplines that put Zimbabwe on the world map with medals at the Commonwealth Games and World Championships.

Its representatives also shone at the Olympic Games.

Yet, it is now a dying sport in Zimbabwe. Welcome to the world of diving.

It’s a sport that produced world class athletes in the ‘80s and ‘90s, making Zimbabweans proud.

Tracy Cox-Smyth and Evan Stewart were the stars.

In 1994, Stewart clinched gold at the World Championships, the fi rst by an African athlete.

Stewart also clinched gold at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in the one-metre springboard.

In 1994, he picked a silver and bronze in the three-metre and one-metre springboard at the Games in Victoria, Canada.

He made three consecutive appearances at the Olympic Games in 1992, 1996 and 2000.

At the 1995 All-Africa Games, hosted by Zimbabwe, Stewart got two medals.

Cox-Smyth had set the stage from the 1980s.

She won a silver medal as a junior at the world age-group championships in Houston, Texas in 1981.

She went on to represent the country in the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games in Seoul and Barcelona.

She made three appearances at the Commonwealth Games and her finest hour came in 1990, when she won a silver medal in the one-metre event at the Club Games, in Auckland.

Zimbabwe Aquatic Union president, Mary Kloppers, admitted the sport is struggling.

“Unfortunately, we do not have any diving taking place at the moment,’’ she said.

“Approximately 15 years ago, there was still some competitive diving happening at schools.

“But, that ended when the coaches retired and or didn’t have a personal interest in it anymore.

“We have the pools, however, many of the actual diving board structures have had to be removed due to safety concerns.

“Therefore, to revive diving, we will have to look at fi rstly refurbishing the structures.’’

It’ not just about the unavailability of the facilities, but also the cost of setting up new structures, which has become a challenge.

“I have looked into it, however, the cost of a springboard is excessive, mainly because of transportation logistics,’’ she said.

“Training of coaches would be very easy. There are good programmes from FINA, as well as support from established coaches in South Africa.

“If there are any sports coaches interested in venturing into diving coaching, we can provide the platform.

“Gymnastics in Zimbabwe is very strong, and that is an essential part of diving preparation.

“Finance of facility is the problem as always,” Kloppers said.