Zimpapers Logo

Collin Matiza Sports Editor
Epworth will once again come alive tomorrow when it hosts Olympic Fun Day celebrations for the second year running.

This year’s event will be staged at the proposed sight of the Olympafrica Centre next to Domboramwari Secondary School where a number of sporting activities have been lined up for the day.

According to the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee, the hosts of the Olympic Day celebrations in this country, sporting disciplines such as football, netball, volleyball, rugby, basketball, wheelchair basketball, tennis and table tennis will all be part of the day tomorrow.

There will also be displays of karate, wushu, cycling and judo, as well as other fun activities such as aerobics for all the participants.

In addition, fun-runs will take place over 5km and 10km.

A Local Organising Committee for this year’s Olympic Day celebrations has been meeting since last month, preparing for tomorrow’s event which is free for all the interested sport-loving residents of Epworth and its surrounding areas.

“The event has a budget of $2 500 with value in kind from ZOC partners and the LOC has engaged local schools (in Epworth) who will provide entertainment for the participants and invited guests,” ZOC said in a statement.

Tomorrow’s Olympic Day celebrations are expected to start at 6:30am and will run until 12:45pm at the Olympafrica Centre which is the brainchild of one of Epworth’s most illustrious sons, Musekiwa Kumbula, who, together with former ZOC president Tommy Sithole, mooted the idea of building it there before they got into partnership with the local Olympic body.

Kumbula is expected to attend tomorrow’s event in Epworth as one of ZOC’s invited guests.

Epworth is also the home of soccer star, CAPS United and Warriors’ midfielder Ronald “Rooney” Chitiyo.

Olympic Day falls each year on June 23 but most governing bodies around the world, including ZOC, do not always hold their events on that day.

It commemorates the founding of the international Olympic Movement by Pierre de Coubertin in 1894.

The aim of the day is to spread the ideas of the Olympic Movement and promote participation in sport around the world.

Zimbabwe, through ZOC, have over the past years been part of the Olympic Day celebrations after having been allowed back into the IOC family soon after the attainment of the country’s Independence in April 1980.

Since then, Zimbabwe have won eight Olympic medals in its history, seven of them courtesy of the country’s swimming icon Kirsty Coventry.