Zimbabwe Rowing team at the 2016 Summer Paralympics
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The Zimbabwe Rowing team at the 2016 Summer Paralympics was the first rowing team to represent their country at a Paralympic Games. The team entered the para mixed coxed four finishing last in their event. The team consisted of rowers Margret Bangajena, Michelle Garnett, Takudzwa Gwariro and Previous Wiri and their cox Jessica Davis. Managed by Davis' mother, Rachel Davies, the team captured the imagination of the press due to the unlikely story of the crew's formation and the hardships they faced on reaching the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Rachel Davis, a Canadian sports administrator from Cambridge, Ontario, was assigned to Zimbabwe in 1996 by her employers, Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d'Aviron (FISA), where her role was to improve the sport of rowing in Africa. The following year she married a Zimbabwean, had a family and settled down in the country.[1] In 2012 Davis successfully coached and registered two Zimbabwean rowers for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Micheen Thornycroft and James Fraser-Mackenzie. When Thornycrofy decided to part company from Davis to train permanently with the South African team, it left Davis with free time to spare, which resulted in a new FISA request.[2] In an attempt to widen the appeal of rowing the International Paralympic Committee assigned four berths for African teams in the rowing program at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio. Kenya and South Africa had already taken three of the positions, and FISA now asked Davis to put forward a Zimbabwe team for the last slot.[2][3]
Davis had no experience in adaptive rowing, and Zimbabwe had no program either.[1] With only two months before the Paralympic qualifying camp in Italy, Davis sent out a call on social media for people with disabilities who would be interested in rowing at the Paralympics. Eighteen people responded to her call, meeting at St. George's College, Harare where Davis taught.[1] None had any rowing experience and most could not swim. The candidates had little understanding of competitive rowing, and one sixty year-old applicant arrived in her Sunday best, wearing a shower cap to protect her hair.[1][2] Overwhelmed by the response, as Davis was expecting only a handful of responders, she decided to assemble a team rather than enter single scull events.[2] Initially Davis was concerned about understanding how adaptive rowers were classified, but fortunately two physiotherapists turned up at the first meet hoping to help out the athletes for "Olympic trials", who were able to assess the volunteers.[2]
The initial meet gave Davis three members of her mixed cox team, but she needed a second male member.[4] Noticing that Takudzwa Gwariro, a fellow PE teacher at the school, walked with a limp, she inquired if he would like to join the team.[4] He accepted, giving the team just three weeks to train together before the trials in Italy.[4] The team's preparations for Italy were far from perfect, training on a dam which was home to crocodiles with having to use antiquated boats.[1] Further problems came after a public transit boycott meant the rowers couldn't travel to the dam.[1]