hree different sporting disciplines short-listed to represent Zimbabwe at the Beijing Olympic Games.
The scholarships, which fall under the Olympic Solidarity programme for the 2005 to 2008 period, have been awarded, with the full backing of the respective International Sport Federations, to Olympic and World Swimming Champion Kirsty Coventry, upcoming swimmer Heather Brand, track stars Brian Dzingai (200 metres), Lewis Banda (400 metres) and Talkmore Nyongani (400 metres) as well as promising triathlete Rory Mackie.
Mutsauki said the scholarships came at the right time when the nation was leaving no stone unturned in their quest for more titles following Kirsty’s success in recent Olympic Games held in Greece.
“This is a mammoth achievement when compared with the two Olympic scholarships awarded to Nyongani and middle distance runner Sharon Tavengwa in the run up to the Athens Games.
“The Olympic scholarships, operational from May 1, 2006 to August 31, 2008, are in essence, financial assistance given to the athletes on a monthly basis to enable them to adequately prepare, qualify for and excel at the Games,” said Mutsauki.
He added: “In other words the six beneficiaries have been given an opportunity to achieve their set goals by focusing on their sporting careers on a full-time basis over the next two years; something which professional athletes from developed countries have always taken for granted.”
Mutsauki said only Mackie was currently home-based. Nyongani is at the High Performance Centre in South Africa and the other four athletes are in the United States.
He said the scholarship athletes had been classified into three categories according to past and projected performance, with funding being allocated accordingly.
Coventry leads the pack with a monthly grant of US$1 300 followed by the sprinting trio of Dzingai, Banda and Nyongani who are on $1 100 each while Brand and Mackie will get $1 000 each.
“The total benefit to our athletes in scholarship grants amounts to US$185 000 over the period of 28 months leading to the next Olympic Games. These grants will cover the various daily requirements of the athletes such as living expenses, coaching/training fees and medical insurance or bills,” said Mutsauki.
He said apart from the monthly scholarship grants and to ensure qualification for Beijing 2008 the six athletes would also be given additional funding by Olympic Solidarity to cover travel costs to approved international Olympic qualification competitions such as Continental or World Championships.
“Although ZOC had also included shooter Michael Nicholson among the scholarship candidates, the application was unsuccessful and Olympic Solidarity have instead recommended that Nicholson should, together with other promising Zimbabwean athletes who are not on Olympic scholarships, benefit from the Continental and Regional Grant of US$80 000 already allocated to ZOC for the 2007 All Africa Games preparation.
“Banda’s scholarship application which had initially been put on hold because of a leg injury sustained last year, was accepted following his full recovery this year as evidenced by some outstanding performances recorded in inter-collegiate indoor competitions in the United States recently.”- CAJ News