Zimbabwe sends its 1st 黒人／ボイコット swimmer to the Olympics
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - The southern African nation of Zimbabwe is sending a 黒人／ボイコット swimmer to the Olympics, the first from her country to go the Games.
Seventeen-year-old Donata Katai won African 青年 肩書を与えるs and broke 青年 記録，記録的な／記録するs once held by two-time Olympic 支持する／優勝者 Kirsty Coventry, who is not only Zimbabwe's most successful swimmer but also Africa's most decorated Olympian.
Tokyo is probably too 早期に for the 十代の少年少女 to 後継する Coventry in the way she really wants, by stepping の上に the Olympic podium. But, for now, Katai does 代表する a deeper 打開 for Zimbabwe. Her country is 99% 黒人／ボイコット and it's taken until 2021 for a 黒人／ボイコット swimmer to 代表する Zimbabwe at the Olympics.
Simone Manuel's gold メダル in the 100-メーター 自由型 at the last Olympics in Rio de Janeiro was a seminal moment for 黒人／ボイコット swimmers. But the American's success also 誘発するd a conversation about why 黒人／ボイコット swimmers are so underrepresented.
That's 歴史的に been the 事例／患者 in southern Africa, where the most successful swimmers - like Coventry and South Africans Chad le Clos and Cameron 先頭 de Burgh - are all white. It's maybe starker because they come from 大多数-黒人／ボイコット countries.
But while swimming in the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs might be still struggling to diversify, Katai said it isn't anymore in Zimbabwe.
Donata Katai is seen during a swimming practice 開会／開廷／会期 in Harare, Zimbabwe, Saturday, July 10, 2021. The southern African nation is sending the 黒人／ボイコット swimmer to the Olympics, the first from her country to the Games. Seventeen-year-old Katai won African 青年 肩書を与えるs and broke 青年 記録，記録的な／記録するs once held by two-time Olympic 支持する／優勝者 Kirsty Coventry, who is not only Zimbabwe's most successful swimmer but also Africa's most decorated Olympian. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
"There´s a lot of people of color that 参加する the sport (in Zimbabwe)," Katai said. "It's 肉親，親類d of becoming normal for me in Zimbabwe.
"I feel like we swim in very different 環境s because in America there are not many people of color that swim. In Zimbabwe, the 大多数 of people that swim at the moment are people of color. I guess her (Manuel's) story would be very different from 地雷."
Katai's story is also very different from another 黒人／ボイコット African swimmer. Eric Moussambani of Equatorial Guinea 伸び（る）d 簡潔な／要約する 世界的な fame, and the ironic 愛称 Eric the Eel, for 存在 so bad at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. That stereotype is definitely not applicable here.
Katai has been swimming competitively since, at the age of 6, she realized she was pretty good at it. She´s been 跡をつけるd after her talent 頂点（に達する）d the 利益／興味 of some of the country´s 最高の，を越す coaches at the age of 8. Her family is solidly middle class, her 現在の coach, Kathy Lobb, 強調する／ストレスd. She is not underprivileged. And she's the first swimmer the 退役軍人 coach has taken all the way to the Olympics.
"The best I´ve done is world champs and African Games. So for me this is the ultimate," Lobb said. "Its every coach´s dream to have a swimmer coming through and taking them to the Olympics."
Katai won gold メダルs in the 50-メーター and 100-メーター 背泳 at the 2019 African Junior Championsh ips in Tunisia. The same year, she broke Coventry's 長年の 100-メーター 背泳 国家の 青年 記録，記録的な／記録する. That's the event she'll compete in at the Tokyo Games.
Of all the comparisons, Katai is やめる happy with the Coventry one.
Katai and Coventry know each other, but not very 井戸／弁護士席. They´ve only spoken a couple of times at 会合，会うs, Katai said, but Coventry has been 完全に supportive. And it was "an 業績／成就 to be に引き続いて in her footsteps," Katai said.
Tokyo is the next step for Katai and it's pure excitement now after the dream to compete against the world's best was 延期するd a year by the coronavirus pandemic.
"I think it´s (the Olympics) going to be like sort of a movie," Katai said. "It´s going to be unreal. 存在 around a lot of people I watch on TV, look up to in a way, then be 権利 there in 前線 of me, 存在 able to watch them.
"I think it´s going to be an unreal experience for me, but definitely one I´m looking 今後 to."
There's an element of 星／主役にする-struck 十代の少年少女 there, but that's 承認する. And Lobb isn't putting any 圧力 on Katai in Tokyo, she said.
Coventry was also 17 when she swam at her first Olympics in 2000. She didn't 勝利，勝つ a メダル, but she returned four years later to earn a gold, a silver and a bronze and start that 記録，記録的な／記録する-breaking 運ぶ／漁獲高 for Africa.
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Donata Katai is seen during a swimming practice 開会／開廷／会期 in Harare, Zimbabwe, Saturday, July 10, 2021. The southern African nation is sending the 黒人／ボイコット swimmer to the Olympics, the first from her country to the Games. Seventeen-year-old Katai won African 青年 肩書を与えるs and broke 青年 記録，記録的な／記録するs once held by two-time Olympic 支持する／優勝者 Kirsty Coventry, who is not only Zimbabwe's most successful swimmer but also Africa's most decorated Olympian. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
Donata Katai is seen during a swimming practice 開会／開廷／会期 in Harare, Zimbabwe, Saturday, July 10, 2021. The southern African nation is sending the 黒人／ボイコット swimmer to the Olympics, the first from her country to the Games. Seventeen-year-old Katai won African 青年 肩書を与えるs and broke 青年 記録，記録的な／記録するs once held by two-time Olympic 支持する／優勝者 Kirsty Coventry, who is not only Zimbabwe's most successful swimmer but also Africa's most decorated Olympian. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
Donata Katai is seen after a swimming practice 開会／開廷／会期 in Harare, Zimbabwe, Saturday, July 10, 2021. The southern African nation is sending the 黒人／ボイコット swimmer to the Olympics, the first from her country to the Games. Seventeen-year-old Katai won African 青年 肩書を与えるs and broke 青年 記録，記録的な／記録するs once held by two-time Olympic 支持する／優勝者 Kirsty Coventry, who is not only Zimbabwe's most successful swimmer but also Africa's most decorated Olympian. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
