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All-Africa Games in Mozambique.
Swimming icon Kirsty Coventry was the biggest beneficiary of the President’s benevolence after she pocketed US$32 000.

Addressing the athletes at a function held at State House, the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces said Government should come up with a national sporting strategy to nurture talent in various sporting disciplines.
He said although there were some people in Government who thought that spending money on sport was wastage, Government would still do its best to fund sports.

“I do not think we are not without resources. If I look around, industry is running,” he said.
“I will go and say we want to win. Do you also not want us to win? Our problem is to get people think about sport in a more serious way. We should accept sport the same way we accept mathematics, engineering and medicine.”

President Mugabe said funding of sports was not a challenge, but the country’s major problem was the people’s perception towards sports.
He said a good country was not only developed from intellectual professionals, but sporting personnel also played a pivotal role.
The President said sports were now a career that could earn one a living and should be taken more seriously.

“One of the key issues that the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, in conjunction with the Sports and Recreation Commission, will need to work on is the development of a national sport strategy,” said President Mugabe.
“As a nation, we need to identify where our greatest potential lies and to ensure that our investment in sport is consistent with the identified priorities.

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“The national sport template should, therefore, provide a blueprint which, in turn, will ensure that our success as a sporting nation is premised on deliberate strategic interventions rather than on chance or flukes which do not give an accurate measure of our sporting prowess.”
The President said in future, it was important for teams to embark on rigorous training to achieve better results in international competitions.

“It is important for the nation to institute continuous training regimes in between competitions,” he said.

“For example, now that the 2011 edition of the All Africa Games has come and gone, we should seriously put together an adequate training programme for the 2015 edition of the games.
“We need to infuse the latest technologies that some leading sporting nations are making use of in order to more accurately assess our progress towards achieving the identified strategic objective. To achieve this, it is also necessary to mobilise adequate resources to fund the preparations.
“Central Government will need to review its funding model for sport in order to avoid a situation where funds for the different national teams are provided on the eve of the competitions.”

The swimming team, led by Coventry, received praise from President Mugabe.
Coventry won four individual gold medals and four silver, which included three in the relay teams.
“I need to single out the outstanding performances of the swimming contingent, who won four gold and six silver medals and bronze medal, the tennis team, who won gold and bronze medals, chess, who won one gold medal and athletics for the visually impaired, who won one silver medal,” said President Mugabe.

This was not the first time that President Mugabe has honoured Coventry, as she was honoured before for her sterling performances at the 2004 Athens Olympics Games and 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Coventry was not present at yesterday’s event as she flew from Mozambique straight to her base in South Africa.
President Mugabe gave US$5 000 to athletes who scooped gold medals in each competition, while silver medalists were given US$3 000 each.
Bronze medalists walked away US$2 000 richer and the rest of the team got US$300 each for showing up.

United States-based Takanyi Garan’anga, who won a gold medal in the tennis singles and a bronze medal in tennis doubles with partner Mark Fynn, was also not present to receive his US$8 000 pay cheque.
Chess player, Robert Gwaze, the other player to win a gold medal, was present to receive US$5 000 for his efforts.
He gave a vote of thanks and presented a stone sculpture to President Mugabe on behalf of Team Zimbabwe.
Other notable beneficiaries included 15-year-old swimmer Samantha Welch who scooped four medals, three silver and one bronze. She pocketed US$11 000.

Nicole Horn got US$15 000 for winning four sliver medals in swimming.
Visually impaired sprinter, Nyaradzai Tagarira, who got silver from the 100m athletics event, was all smiles as she received US$3 000.
At the same function, President Mugabe announced that the three times Comrades Marathon champion Stephen Muzhingi, who received US$50 000 from him two months ago, would be receiving a car.

“We thank those who gave him a car,” he said. “I don’t know what car it is. But they say it’s a small car. I hope you and your family will like this small token of appreciation from Government.”
Team Zimbabwe finished 11th out of 44 countries that took part in the games in Mozambique. The team brought home six gold, seven silver and two bronze medals.
Present at the ceremony were Vice Presidents Joice Mujuru and John Nkomo, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda, Deputy Education and Sport Minister Lazarus Dokora, Deputy Women’s Affairs Minister Jessie Majome and other senior Government officials.