The rising swimming stars, coached by their father, Gondo Gondo, have carved their mark in the past decade. Gondo is the founder and coach of Stingrays Swimming Club in Francistown. The swimmers have represented Botswana at various international competitions. Ruvarashe, 23, the eldest sibling explained that in some communities, swimming is often seen as an unnecessary skill, something reserved for the wealthy, those who have a pool or live by the ocean. "We must break this misconception,” she said. Ruvarashe started swimming at the age of six. At eight years old, she was selected to represent the Northern schools team at the Conference of Heads of Private Primary and Secondary Schools of Botswana (CHOPS). “I never looked back since then, I have always been on the podium. I am a multiple age group winner of the North vs South CHOPS primary schools galas. During high school, I represented John Mackenzie at the Independent Schools Association of Botswana (ISAB) and Independent Secondary Schools of Southern Africa (ISSSA) interschool galas, winning numerous awards, setting and breaking records in the process. I carried the same performance to the national team where I won medals, earned national age group titles and records during National Championships,” she said.
Ruvarashe has represented Botswana at the 2018 and 2021 AUSC Region V Games, Africa Aquatics Zone IV championships between 2016 and 2020, where she bagged medals. She said the highlight of her career was when she took part at the Argentina 2018 Youth Olympics. Ruvarashe competed in the 50m butterfly and 50m breaststroke, setting personal best (PB) of 32.01 and 37.13, respectively. “I am currently studying Degree in Sports Science Management at the Mount Saint Mary University in New York funded by Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) Elite Scholarship. I am also training as an assistant coach at my university, and I hope to take that experience back home,” she said. The second born is Takundanashe, 20, and just like his sister, he started swimming at six years of age. He followed the same development pathway as his sister. His first big swimming gala was at the age of seven when he won a gold medal in the boys' Under-8 25-metre breaststroke at the Botswana Swimming Sport Association (BSSA) North vs South CHOPS Primary Schools swimming gala in 2012. Takundanashe said it has been an interesting journey this far, as a multiple medal winner in various swimming competitions, and group medallist at the BSSA national championships since 2015 to date. He has been on tour with the national team in various other tournaments, including the Africa Aquatics Senior Championships in Angola in 2024, as well as the AUSC Region V Youth Games in Lesotho (2021) and Malawi (2022).
