THE Zimbabwean team for the 2024 paralympic games is leaving today for Paris, France, after a month of intensive training in camp.
Zimbabwe leaves with a small team of two athletes Tinotenda Bango and Kudakwashe Chigwedere as well as coach Elliot Mujaji who won a gold medal at the same Games in 2004.
In fact, Mujaji is the only Zimbabwean athlete to win a medal at the paralympic games and for doing so, received a US$20 000 reward from then Zimbabwe president, the late Robert Mugabe
"We appointed Mujaji, the coach of the team because he has a lot of experience with the games and has a history that will help to inspire the young athletes," said the Zimbabwe Paralympic team's chef-de- mission to the Paris Games, Masimba Mutemaringa.
Bango and Chigwedere are 21-year-olds, and will take part in the 100 metre sprint, the same event that made Mujaji popular. " We have been training hard for this competition and we are happy with the way things are going. The guys are posting good times and that gives us hope," said Mujaji.
Mujaji, however, did not want to promise much saying they would be happy to reach the finals of their events in the same way that Makanaka Charamba and Tapiwa Makarau did at the just ended Olympic Games.
"If we win medals, it will be a bonus, but we are going there to learn for the 2028 Games. The athletes are still very young but in 2028, they will be ready to challenge for medals," added Mujaji.
Although the 2024 Games will begin on August 28, Bango will take to the track on August 30 while Chigwedere will round up Zimbabwe's participation on September 3. The Paralympic Games will come to an end on September 8.
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The Paralympic Games follow on the heels of the Olympic Games where the Zimbabwean team did not win anu medals but came back with their heads held high after Charamba and Makarau reached the final of the 200 metres.
The other members of the Zimbabwean team were rower Stephen Cox, swimmer Denilson Cyprianos, and marathon runners Rutendo Nyahora and Isaac Mpofu.
