adminZimbabwe returned home on Sunday with the team comprising of 36 gymnasts who have made their classic performance historical against participants from all across the world.
The international gymnastics competition ran from July 10 to 14 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
Over 1 500 participants from countries like United States, Malaysia, China, India, Canada and the hosts South Africa took part in the second edition of the event and it was not easy for Zimbabwe to win but they performed their gymnastics routines and dances well to win some silverware at the competition.
In total, the event had 78 groups with participants from world over
Austria’s participants emerged as the overall winners while Zimbabwe took second and third places as they had two groups.
Flying the Zimbabwean flag high at the event, the first team got a silver medal in tumbling combined with dances while the second team scooped a bronze medal in rhythmic.
One of the young gymnasts in the Zimbabwe team Tapuwa Benhura said the event will always be remembered for a long time as they put up a commendable team work.
Benhura said it felt like a dream to win medals at such a big stage.
“We were very happy to win. It was like a dream, there were a lot of teams which I thought were going to beat us to the first, second and third positions but it was us in the end.
“We are so grateful to our coaches. They taught us never to fear but believe in ourselves and in the end it worked as we did our routines well,” Benhura said. On their way to glory, Zimbabwe were competing for top spot against 71 other groups and a total of 1 541 participants and performed a group number called Bopoma Ekubatana inspired by Victoria Falls.
It was a mix of artistic gymnastics, dance and acrobatic to the music of Rozella, a Zimbabwe artist from the early 1990s. Zimbabwe presented a piece called roads untravelled which was inspired by a look at how people follow a single path in life and was a dance which combined dancing precision and rhythmic gymnastics.
The groups were judged by a panel of eight experts who then judge and grade the groups into 16 who would go through to the final to compete for the overall trophy.
Chris Muchatuta, the vice-president of Zimbabwe Gymnastic, commended the teams, saying most of the people at the event were impressed by their performance.
“It was not easy, I thought they were not going to grab some medals.
“The experience was amazingly uplifting for both the gymnasts and the coaches who found themselves competing on a world stage which was being screened live to the world and sharing the stage with countries from every continent in the world except Australia.
“To win the competition against many world class gymnasts is really a huge thing for the team and it shows how much talent we have in this country,” said Muchatuta.
The next Gym For Life Challenge will be in Norway in 2017.
Online Reporter