A Kubatana subscriber made some good points recently in the “should politics and sports mix” debate:

In the midst of all the negative news coming out of Zimbabwe of late, many may have missed the positive news of the legendary Kirsty Coventry, who having already won various medals in many an international swimming arena, continues to swim her way to the top of the world swimming rankings. Coventry broke the world’s oldest short-course record at the World Short Course Championships, recently held in Manchester England on April 12th. Kirsty also won a gold medal in the 200-meter individual medley. During her celebratory interviews, Kirsty Coventry excitedly spoke of her wins, and expressed how much she was looking forward to heading to Beijing China, to represent Zimbabwe at the Olympics in August.

Personally, I support Kirsty’s ascent to fame and swimming stardom, and have felt proud as a Zimbabwean as she has won medal after medal, and broken record after record over the years. However, I have to say I found myself pausing in some degree of disbelief at Ms. Coventry’s expressed anticipation of a visit to Beijing. Ms. Coventry was also asked a question about the crisis that was engulfing Zimbabwe as she, on the other end of the world, painted a positive image of the country. Ms. Coventry reportedly replied that she tries to “stay out of politics”. I do too ….. for the most part! But honestly, what Zimbabwean in this day and age has the luxury to “stay out of politics” !!!?

I think it would be wrong and almost hypocritical for Kirsty Coventry to go to China if she does qualify to go to the upcoming Olympics. Doing so would demonstrate, in my opinion, that she represents her own personal ambitions and interests, and not Zimbabwe’s. Her claim of efforts to “stay out of politics” though understandable are not realistic, and would in this instance be a betrayal of her claim at representing Zimbabwe as she swims her way to the top. Ms. Coventry instead, holds a unique position to represent Zimbabwe in a more meaningful and unselfish manner. As a world renowned Zimbabwean star athlete, she should either speak out against the atrocities going on in Zimbabwe, or quietly boycott China to show her solidarity with the ordinary Zimbabweans who have absolutely nothing to celebrate or look forward to at this particular time, except survival. Reports are coming out that as the ship carrying a consignment of weapons from China now stands to be recalled back to China, China on the other hand, is preparing another consignment of reportedly “more sophisticated” weapons to be flown directly from China to Harare within the coming week!!!

I am no politician, but I consider myself a fairly intelligent being. China’s disregard for the significance of its arms sales to Zimbabwe, demonstrates at best, an utter disregard and disinterest for the value of the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans who will certainly be massacred by these weapons, and at worst, demonstrates what many have said all along. China has no respect for human rights, and in Zimbabwe’s case, like in Rwanda, is seeking to facilitate, aid and enable genocide by the Mugabe regime. Even the pursuit for economic supremacy has its bounds, and no Zimbabwean should stand aside while China massacres our people as a stepping stone to economic supremacy. No Zimbabwean blood should aid China’s economic rise. As Mugabe cries foul to perceived new attempts at colonization of Zimbabwe by the West, he is willing to shed our blood as he hands over the country to those from the East. Even the apolitical Kirsty Coventry needs to look beyond the potential gold medals and the prospects of enhanced fame, and take a stand on one side or the other on this issue. I will be damned to find any Zimbabwean, a true Zimbabwean, anywhere in this world, who is truly “staying out of politics” today. Kirsty should certainly continue swimming her way to the top, but certainly not to China. She can still prove herself the best on other venues that will certainly present themselves in the future after China, but China is no venue for any Zimbabwean to be competing under any guise of any form of a positive spirit as is supposedly embodied by the Olympics. In my view, they might as well extinguish the Olympics torch when it gets to China, and carry on with the games instead of trying to pull a veil over the rest of us. There is nothing positive-spirited about China from an ordinary Zimbabwean’s perspective today, unless you are looking out for the personal gains that come from such an association with China. Currently, the only Zimbabweans I know of who are benefiting in any way from China are Mugabe and his cronies. Which side does Ms. Coventry stand, on this issue, in which EVERY other Zimbabweans has taken a stand?

Please share your views directly with Kirsty and also congratulate her on her wins on her blog (You’ll need to register to leave a comment).

This entry was posted on April 23rd, 2008 at 9:37 am by Amanda Atwood and is filed under Activism, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.