Coventry's Olympic triumph unites divided nation

Coventry's Olympic triumph unites divided nation

DUNNIT!: Kirsty celebrates after her triumph

• Zimbabwe heroine Coventry wins Olympic gold

• Heroine Coventry clinches second medal for Zim

• Coventry wins Olympic silver

• Cara Black basks in Wimbledon glory

By Christopher Clarey

SYMBOLS of racial harmony are hard to come by in present-day Zimbabwe, with President Robert Mugabe and the black majority taking possession of the white minority's land and driving many of them out of the country.
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But amid a wider context of tension and perhaps insoluble differences, there was a pocket of shared delight inside the Olympic pool on Friday night as Kirsty Coventry, the most unlikely swimming success story of these Games, won her third medal.
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That was quite an accomplishment considering that Zimbabwe, the once-prosperous but now deeply troubled southern African nation, had never come close to an Olympic medal in swimming.
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It - or rather Coventry - now has one of every color: a bronze from the 200-meter individual medley; a silver from 100 backstroke and, on Friday, a gold in the 200 backstroke.
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As Coventry, the white daughter of parents who still live in Harare, celebrated in the pool after her narrow victory, Paul Chingoka, the black president of Zimbabwe's Olympic committee, was also bobbing up and down in the stands with delight.
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"The whole country's going crazy at the moment," Chingoka said. "I know her parents. I knew her mother when she was pregnant with Kirsty. This is great for our sport. Everybody's excited."

What will be the most fitting honour Zimbabwe can give to Coventry? Send your comments (with your full name and country wher you are writing from) to ozzie@newzimbabwe.com

Nonetheless, Coventry, a 20-year-old who left Zimbabwe three years ago to swim for the University of Auburn in the United States, was still left to answer multiple queries about what impact her unexpected success might have on the socio-political climate at home.
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"I don't think politics should interfere with sports," she said. "And you know I think every country goes through troubles, and my swimming has always been something that if I've had trouble in my school or my personal life, has been a way for me to go and get away from everything."
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"It's been hard being so far away from home," she said of her decision to swim for Auburn. "Hard not always knowing what's going on and worrying a little bit about how everyone is doing in my family. But I know they are all strong. It really hasn't affected me. All the sports people in Zimbabwe, they lean toward sport to give them support when things are troubling them or they're going through bad stuff. It just makes them stronger at the end of the day."
International Herald Tribune
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