Information coming through from Zimbabwe is that the Rio Olympic Women’s national team players were offered $5 dollars for transport, after landing at Harare International Airport.
News Day website has it that one of the players, who commented on condition of anonymity, revealed that the money given to them was an insult.
The player revealed that an official from the Zimbabwean Olympic Committee known as ‘Chiedza’ offered them $5 for transport to go to their respective homes.
According to the report, the team was welcomed by 500 fans who gave them a heroes welcome, but some of the supporters expressed unhappiness on the bus offered by the organisers.
“She offered to give $5 to players who stay in Harare and $15 to those from outside Harare to use for transport, but we refused because we were expecting to get our allowances,” the player, who chose not to be named, said.
“We were told that we would get at least $1 000 each for our participation at the Olympics, but only to be offered this. We thought it was an insult.”
Another player spoke to the Zimbabwean website saying they were offered to stay in a hotel in the Zimbabwean capital, but they refused.
“They were also offering us to stay in a hotel in town, but we also refused, and asked them to give us the money they wanted to use in booking the hotel. We hear ZOC was given money for us by the International Olympic Committee and we suspect that they want to use it themselves,” another player said.
Moreover, the coach ,Shadreck Mlauzi, welcomed the reception his team received from the supporters.
“I’m humbled to get such a reception. We did not do well, but the fact that a number of people are welcoming us shows that they are proud of the effort that was put in by the girls,” Mlauzi said.
“It was not going to be easy, but as a nation, we should admit that we are still finding our feet in the world of football in major tournaments.
“There are a number of lessons we learnt there and the most important one is preparation.
“Our talent identification should also be revamped, there was a vast difference in the physical attributes of our players compared to the teams that we were playing.”
The Mighty Warriors lost 6-1 to Germany, 3-1 to Canada and wrapped up their group stage encounter with a 6-1 loss to Australia.
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