Zimbabwe: First Lady Rewards Team Zimbabwe
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The Herald (Harare)
25 August 2008
Posted to the web 25 August 2008
Collin Matiza
Beijing
MEMBERS and officials of Team Zimbabwe 2008 will be smiling all the way to the bank after they were each given US$1 500 by the First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe for doing the nation proud by winning four medals -- one gold and three silver -- at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games which ended here yesterday.
The 13 Zimbabwean athletes and their managers and coaches received the cash reward from the First Lady in recognition of their performance which saw them walking away with the four medals after 16 days of tough competition at the world's biggest sporting jamboree.
The four medals that Zimbabwe won at the Beijing Games were the biggest medal haul that the country has won at the Olympics.
And they all came through the swimming exploits of the country's pool icon Kirsty Coventry, who grabbed the gold medal in the women's 200m backstroke, breaking the world record in the process, and then collected the three silver medals in the 400 and 200m individual medleys and 100m backstroke at the Water Cube here in Beijing.
Apart from Coventry's brilliant performance in the pool, Zimbabwe also had two athletes -- sprinter Brian Dzingai and long jumper Ngonidzaishe Makusha -- who qualified for the finals of the track and field events for the first time in the history of the country at the Olympic Games.
Dzingai (27) defied the odds by reaching the final of the men's 200m while 21-year-old Makusha, who was making his debut appearance at the Olympics, also did well to reach the final of the men's long jump.
Young rower Susan Elana Hill was also a revelation for Zimbabwe at the Beijing Games where she reached the quarter-finals of the women's single sculls event.
Like Makusha, Hill was also making her maiden appearance at the Olympic Games here in Beijing.
And in due recognition of Team Zimbabwe 2008's sterling performance at the Beijing Games, the First Lady Amai Mugabe, in a wonderful gesture, on Saturday gave each member and official of the team US$1 500.
The money was handed to Team Zimbabwe 2008 by Zimbabwe's Ambassador to China Frederick Shava during a reception he hosted for the team at the country's embassy in Beijing on Saturday night.
Shava told members of Team Zimbabwe 2008 and invited guests that the First Lady was moved by the team's brilliant performance at the Beijing Games and "as a token of appreciation", she felt obliged to honour them by giving each member and official of the team a cash reward of US$1 500.
Amai Mugabe was in Beijing for the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games on August 8.
The 13 athletes, who were part of Team Zimbabwe 2008 at the Beijing Games, are Coventry, fellow United States-based swimmer Heather Brand, sprinters Young Talkmore Nyongani, Dzingai, Lewis Banda, long jumper Makusha, middle-distance runner Cutbert Nyasango, marathon runners Mike Fokorani and Tabitha Tsatsa, tennis player Cara Black, triathlete Chris Felgate, rower Hill and mountain bike cyclist Antipas Kwari.
Coventry, Brand, Hill, Nyasango, Tsatsa, Felgate and Kwari were present during Saturday night's reception at the Zimbabwean Embassy while Fokorani had to stay away as he was preparing for yesterday morning's men's marathon event.
The other members of Team Zimbabwe 2008 -- Black, Makusha, Dzingai, Banda and Nyongani -- were also not present as they had already flown out of Beijing after the completion of their respective disciplines last week.
At Saturday's reception Shava commended the team for their outstanding performance during the Beijing Games and said the four medals that they won in the Chinese capital saw Zimbabwe firmly establishing itself as one of the sporting powerhouses in the world.
"Your performance at these Games has really done the nation proud and I would like to thank you all for a job well done . . . You really did us proud," Shava said.
He said although Zimbabwe walked away with four medals, officials of the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee and the country's top athletes should not rest on their laurels and should start preparing for the next Olympics in London in 2012 now.
"This (performance) must not only end here in Beijing. We must aim to do much better at the next Olympic Games in London in four years' time.
"We must start our preparations for the 2012 London Games now and aim to reap more medals there than the four that we have won here in Beijing," Shava said.
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In response, ZOC president Admire Masenda said the cash reward that the team received from the First Lady would go a long way in inspiring the athletes to scale even greater heights at the 2012 Olympic Games and other major international sporting events.
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Read comments. Write your own.
From the U.S.A.(Private Prem),you will always be just a fly on the wall, nothing else.At least the First Lady did not take 80 years plus.Rejoin the (Peace Corps).Private:By,By,Tarboro, North Carolina.Oweij Liebo.
A fly on the wall can very well sting and inflict acute pain to criminal Mugabe whose sight is failing him terribly. hahaha !!
Consider the impact of the stings of millions of these flies? Do you know where the lunatic will end up?
And that's what we expect from the collective impact of millions of bleeding Zimbabweans.
laugh, laugh well while we are deadsure making headway with our movement to dislodge the criminal and bring him to trial with his right to a fair defense!
We are democrats! Not criminals and bloodsuckers like him and company!
What a load of trash!! Where did this tart get this kind of money from to spray it around like confetti?? US$20K was just lying around in the bottom of her drawer and she suddenly felt an urge to be generous with her money?? Tripe!!! that money came from the state coffers. there is no way someone as disGrace-ful as this tart could ever part with 20,000 US Dollars and give it away just like that. Amai what!!! Go to hell!!
In America, Turnex you and your bunch of dead roses need to be recycled.Please send a check toward your balance due to the First Lady of Zim.O",there is no hell,until you you get there.(smile).Oweij Liebo U.S.A.
levi...I'll speak to the first tart of zimboland seeing as she is currently suffering spasms of generosity, and ask her to send you a cheque on my behalf..better still..get on the next plane out and go collect it yourself and cash it...did you happen to notice that the athletes were rewarded with currency from the land of the Great Satan and not good old zimbabwean dollars?? Let that be a lesson to fools such as yourself..even she who is married to the thug that is in charge of the country has no faith in his currency and instead is busy… [Read Full Text]
Levibaboone, one thing I can tell you is that in America you are A NOTHING. You are still an African who has run away from his country and therefore has no roots of his own and you are crapping in a land that is not yours. Judging by the crap you produce in your support of the Mugabe regime, perhaps I should apologize to the African people for calling you as their own because there is no room for your kind in Africa.
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What a shame! Illegitimate dis-Grace Mugabe, dishing out a pitiful USD 1,500 to Olympic medla winners when she condoned bribing judges with luxurious Mercedes Benz and 4-wheel vehicles.
The athletes have done more to publicize Zimbabwe positively to the outside world than the corrupt judges who have tarnished the country's image!
No doubt, the illegitimate Zimbabwe regime continues to be the laughing stock of the world!