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Zimbabwe Triathlon Association has declined his nomination for one of the posts of two vice-presidents but he is still interested in becoming one of the seven board members who are also going to be elected at tomorrow’s indaba.
One of the country’s top shottists Mike Nicholson has also pulled out of the race for the treasurer’s post, leaving George Nechamba and Godfrey Sunguro to fight it out for this key position.
Eugenia Chidhakwa has also declined her nomination for the board member position and was joined by former top female judoka Debbie Jeans, Kerrie Mackie and Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze who have all pulled out of tomorrow’s elections, Mguni said.
And this means there are now 22 nominations for the seven board members berths.
They are Letitia Chipandu, Addison Chiware, Fulton, Sebastian Garikayi, Margie Gibson, Custom Kachambwa, Kathy Lobb, Lovemore Malianga, Stonard Mapfumo, Ringisai Mapondera, Abigail Mnikwa, Merit Munzwembiri, Margret Muswazi, Gladmore Muzambi, Fredrick Ndlovu, Martin Rateiwa, Celso Ribeiro, John Satombo, Tendayi Tagara, Belia Zibowa, Fungai Zinatsa and Titus Zviomuya.
Mguni also said incumbent ZOC president Admire Masenda is still going to seek re-election for the hot seat and will be challenged by one of the country’s former top sprinters Thabani Gonye.
The Herald understands that Gonye was initially not interested in running for the president’s post and was only nominated for this position “at the last minute”.
Apart from contesting for the president’s post, Gonye, who is not seeking re-election for the treasurer’s post, is also among the four candidates that were nominated for one of the posts of the two vice-presidents. The three others are one of the current two ZOC vice-presidents Busi Chindove, seasoned hockey administrator Kachambwa and Ndlovu.
Mguni said tomorrow’s ZOC general assembly will be held at Prince Edward School’s Beit Hall, starting at 10am, and they will be conducted against a backdrop of Zimbabwe’s poor showing at the last Summer Olympic Games in London.
At the 2012 London Games, Zimbabwe were represented by a small team of seven athletes who were led by two-time Olympic Games’ women’s 200m backstroke swimming champion Kirsty Coventry.
The other members of that team were marathon runners Cutbert Nyasango, Wirimayi Juwawo and Sharon Tavengwa, triathlete Chris Felgate and two rowers Micheen Thornycroft and Jamie Fraser Mackenzie.
And all these athletes returned home empty-handed as Zimbabwe failed to land a medal of any colour for the first time since Coventry took the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, by storm when she came out there with a full set of medals – one gold, one silver and one bronze.
The three medals were first to be won by Zimbabwe at the world’s biggest sporting showcase since the historic achievenment of the women’s hockey “Golden Girls” who scooped a gold medal for the country at the 1980 Moscow Games in the then Soviet Union (now Russia).
After mining three medals at the Athens Games, Coventry “raised the bar higher” at the next Games in Beijing, China, in 2008 where she fished out four more medals, one gold and three silvers, defending her women’s 200m backstroke title in the process.
And this saw Coventry becoming the most decorated Zimbabwean athlete since the country gained its Independence in April 1980.
After competing at the Beijing Games in 2008, Coventry was back in the Team Zimbabwe for the fourth consecutive time at the 2012 London Games but she, unfortunately, did not to leave her footprints there as she failed to win any medal in the three events that she competed in – the 100m and 200m backstroke and 200m individual medley.
At the London Games, Coventry finished third in her semi-final heat of the 200IM, just edging her into the final, where she placed sixth with a time of 2:11.13.
In semi-final two of the 200m backstroke, she placed second, advancing her to the final in that event, where she placed sixth again in a time of 2:08.18, surrendering her Olympic title in the process.
And the new ZOC executive board that will be ushered into the office after tomorrow’s general assembly at Prince Edward School will have an unenviable task of bringing back Zimbabwe’s glory days at the Olympic Games when Brazil hosts the next Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2006.
leeroy
Online Reporter