MICHAEL FINCH, Johannesburg | Sunday 5.30pm.
AT TIMES the crowd held its breath as Zimbabwean disabled swimmer Toddy Mudzenjerere doggy-paddled his way across 50m of the Ellis Park pool on Sunday.
Some wanted to jump in and save the polio victim from Bulawayo, who only began swimming two months ago, others cheered and shouted willing the 34-year-old home.
It was 4 mins 23.76 seconds of pure emotion that personified the very essence of what the 7th All Africa Games is.
Participation.
As his badly deformed legs appeared out of the pool, everyone in the stadium applauded.
The first 35m went relatively well, as the Zimbabwean made steady progress, but over the final 15m he began to falter. At times he just managed to keep his head afloat, not making any progress forward.
With three metres to go, he eventually grasped at the timing pad to record a time that wouldn’t even have ensured a win in an able-bodied 400m individual medley relay.
But that wasn’t the point.
“I just wanted to participate,” Mudzenjerere said as he proudly changed into his Zimbabwean tracksuit afterwards. “I just wanted to be part of the Games.”
While admitting that he had only started swimming two months ago, the friendly Mudzenjerere, who sports a dreadlock hairstyle and a wide grin, admitted he had a few problems.
“I needed to go to the toilet beforehand,” he grinned. “But I didn’t have enough time. It made swimming difficult.”
Disabled sport is making it’s first appearance at the All Africa Games. — MWP