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THE clock stopped ticking at 1800 hours no one knows when at the Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex according to the clock on the nonfunctioning Omega electronic scoreboard by the poolside.
The scoreboard looks over the giant Olympic-size swimming pool like a dead deity helplessly watching its errant subjects. Besides the rain water that has collected in the pool, its floor is now littered with dead leaves.
The water has turned green with algae. The floor tiles are peeling off making the whole dastardly sight an indictment of the people who built it in the first place.
Swimming sensation Kirsty Coventry cut her teeth at the complex. She set several national records which are still standing.
“It’s sad that the swimming pool has been left to rot. She (Kirsty Coventry) broke several national records there. I have got boxes and boxes of the medals she won there,” Lyn Coventry, Kirsty’s mother said.
The world champion also used to train at the big pool before relocating to the United States in 2001.
On a visit to the complex this week all one could see was a man clad in torn blue overalls, who seemed lost in time, munching on an unsliced loaf of bread staring at the green algae in the pool.
In one of the offices a woman sifts through some files on her cluttered desk. The door to her office is inscribed “Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture Chitungwiza District”.
The once glamorous swimming facility is crumbling. The facility has also been at the mercy of vandals. Some electrical fittings have been pulled out in the changing rooms.
The sorry state of the Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex could be one of the reasons, why the world champion has opted to set base in South Africa as there are better training facilities. She trains at the Pretoria-based Players Academy, which is run by South African 4x100m freestyle relay Olympic gold medallist Ryk Neethling.
The giant Chitungwiza complex has turned into a ruin facing wholesale abuse 16 years after its construction. It has now been turned into an entertainment venue for musical shows and parties.
Apart from the swimming pool, there are also grounds for indoor hockey and handball at the aquatic complex but these are almost overgrown with shrubs and grass.
Part of the complex has also been converted into a “sports bar”. The complex, which was constructed in 1994 for the 1995 All Africa Games used to be a marvel.
The spectator grandstand at the swimming pools now looks like a small forest.
Perhaps Kirsty in a fit of nostalgia may begin a fund to restore this former national treasure to its glory of yesteryear.
BY FANUEL VIRIRi
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