Exposure crucial for growth in swimming

SWIMMING is likely to remain the major contributor to Zimbabwe’s medal tally for the foreseeable future.

At the regional stage, the sport continues to excel with Zimbabwe’s swimmers coming home with 26 medals from the African Union Sports Council Region 5 Games held in Lesotho. The country remains consistent at continental level, but then falls short on the international stage.

Zimbabwe last won an Olympic medal back in 2008, when Kirsty Coventry, who is now the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation, won four medals, one gold and three silver.

The Minister is also the holder of seven of the country’s eight Olympic medals to date, which begs the question: where is it all going wrong?

In an effort to get to the bottom of this alarming trend, The Sunday Mail Sport sought audience with Zimbabwe Swimming chairperson Tracey Doorman. Exposure looks to be the missing link. “The team was short on a few males, as we had hoped that they would have given us individual medals, but we are still pleased with the performance,” said Doorman, in reference to the country’s medal haul in Lesotho.

“For this event, things like travel bans, red-listing of Zimbabwe, and exposure to the Covid-19 virus, meant that some swimmers could not attend the AUSC Games.

“We had the same problem with the

World Swimming Championships,” she said.

To address the trend, Doorman said they had dedicated coaches who put a lot of time and effort into the swimmers, but the biggest issue was exposure.

“Exposure to higher levels of competition is crucial, but this has been hard on our swimmers.

“This has been largely precipitated by a lack of funding.

“Qualification for international competitions such as the Olympics and World champs is hard. Swimmers need to compete against strong competition, and while this is in reference to everyone, it is especially true for the seniors.

“We always hope that we will have some sponsors coming in, but we do our best to steer talented swimmers in the right direction,” said Doorman.

In the build-up to the regional games, the spotlight was on the swimming team, which was led by teenage sensation Donata Katai.

Katai became the country’s youngest Olympian at the Tokyo Olympic Games in July, and the whole team delivered with an impressive show in the pool.

Katai picked up four gold medals in the 200m backstroke, 100m backstroke, 50m backstroke, and 100m butterfly.

Another highly rated swimmer, Paige van der Westhuizen, won gold in the 100m freestyle, while Chinyere Mgbemena and Riana Rollo claimed silver medals in the 100m breaststroke and 200m butterfly races respectively.

◆