Online Reporter
Mukudzei Chingwere
ZIMBABWE’S sports industry is poised for a huge fillip in the wake of an elaborate developmental plan championed by the International Olympic Committee.
IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, on Thursday met Acting President Dr Constantino Chiwenga in Harare where the parties discussed modalities to transform the local sports landscape.
The plan is anchored on early talent identification, availing specialised training for athletes, scholarships, trainers’ development and general financial assistance.
The offer from the IOC comes at a time, Zimbabwe is taking steps to revamp the sports industry, turning it into the big business it is as opposed to a pass time.
Coventry, a former Sports Minister in Zimbabwe, is herself an example of the huge potential buried in the depths of the country, many of which never finds the opportunity to blossom.
As the IOC president, Coventry wields huge influence over the Olympic Sport and global sports policies.
“The Acting President welcomed me warmly. I first congratulated him on the AUSC Region 5 achievements, the team performed admirably and we take great pride in that,” said Coventry.
“We explored various sporting opportunities, particularly in relation to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
“We also discussed the potential for additional support for our sprinters based in the US.”
She added that they also discussed importance of ongoing collaboration, mentioning existing memorandums of understanding with countries like China, which boasts a strong talent identification system.
Coventry reminded that there are 15 initiatives available for national Olympic committees to apply for, including Olympic solidarity scholarships.
“We spoke about how we can continue working together, in terms of finding different opportunities for the country.
“We spoke about the importance of implementing some of the memoranda of understanding that we already have as a country specifically in and around China, they have a very good system when it comes to talent identification. I will speak to the Ministry of Sport just to follow-up.
“There are a number of initiatives about 15 programmes that all national Olympic committees can apply for.
“At the Olympic committee – we give Olympic solidarity scholarships to all national Olympic committees as well as some other training initiatives for coaches as well as for teams.
“That’s the funding that goes directly to national Olympic committees to direct funding for athletes through scholarships, so that process is already happening and will continue to happen”.
Coventry is also excited about the prospects of the Youth Olympic Games being held in Africa for the first time next year in Dakar, Senegal.
“We have the Youth Olympic Games coming to Africa for the first time next year which will be held in Dakar, Senegal and we are very excited about that, that will be the first start.
“The Olympic Games is for everybody and it is my job to ensure that everyone around the world including our beautiful continent of Africa is included and everything we do we work towards ensuring our programmes reach all countries,” said Coventry.
