Kirsty Coventry

Kirsty Coventry

Kazan 2015
Personal information
Full name	Kirsty Leigh Coventry
National team	Zimbabwe
Born	16 September 1983 Harare, Zimbabwe
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	62 kg (137 lb; 9.8 st)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Backstroke, Individual Medley
Club	Longhorn Aquatics
College team	Auburn University
Medal record Women's swimming Representing Zimbabwe Olympic Games 2004 Athens 200 m backstroke 2008 Beijing 200 m backstroke 2004 Athens 100 m backstroke 2008 Beijing 100 m backstroke 2008 Beijing 200 m medley 2008 Beijing 400 m medley 2004 Athens 200 m medley World Championships (LC) 2005 Montreal 100 m backstroke 2005 Montreal 200 m backstroke 2009 Rome 200 m backstroke 2005 Montreal 200 m medley 2005 Montreal 400 m medley 2007 Melbourne 200 m backstroke 2007 Melbourne 200 m medley 2009 Rome 400 m medley World Championships (SC) 2008 Manchester 400 m medley 2008 Manchester 100 m backstroke 2008 Manchester 200 m backstroke 2008 Manchester 200 m medley 2008 Manchester 100 m medley Commonwealth Games 2002 Manchester 200 m medley All-Africa Games 2007 Algiers 50 m freestyle 2007 Algiers 800 m freestyle 2007 Algiers 50 m backstroke 2007 Algiers 100 m backstroke 2007 Algiers 200 m backstroke 2007 Algiers 200 m medley 2007 Algiers 400 m medley 2011 Maputo 100 m backstroke 2011 Maputo 200 m backstroke 2011 Maputo 200 m medley 2011 Maputo 400 m medley 2015 Brazzaville 100 m backstroke 2015 Brazzaville 200 m backstroke 2015 Brazzaville 200 m medley 2007 Algiers 100 m breaststroke 2007 Algiers 4×100 m medley 2007 Algiers 4×200 m freestyle 2011 Maputo 100 m butterfly 2011 Maputo 4×100 m medley 2011 Maputo 4×100 m freestyle 2011 Maputo 4×200 m freestyle 2015 Brazzaville 4×100 m mixed medley

Kirsty Leigh Coventry (born 16 September 1983 in Harare, Zimbabwe) is a Zimbabwean swimmer and former world record holder. She attended and swam competitively for Auburn University in Alabama, in the United States.^[1] At the 2004 Summer Olympics, in Athens, Greece, Coventry won three Olympic medals: a gold, a silver, and a bronze,^[2] while in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing she won four medals: a gold and three silver. She was subsequently described by Paul Chingoka, head of the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee, as "our national treasure".^[1] Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has called her "a golden girl,"^[3] and awarded her US$100,000 in cash for her 2008 Olympic performance.^[4]

Biography

Coventry attended Dominican Convent High School, Harare in Zimbabwe. In 2000, while still in high school, Coventry became the first Zimbabwean swimmer to reach the semifinals at the Olympics and was named Zimbabwe's Sports Woman of the Year.

As a student at Auburn University, Coventry helped lead the Tigers to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships in 2003 and 2004. In 2005, she was the top individual scorer at the NCAA Championships and captured three individual titles including the 200-meter and 400 m individual medley (IM), and the 200 m backstroke for the second consecutive season. She was named the College Swimming Coaches Association Swimmer of the Meet for her efforts. Other awards include 2005 Southeastern Conference (SEC) Swimmer of the Year, and the 2004–05 SEC Female Athlete of the Year. She was also the recipient of the 2004–05 Honda Sports Award for Swimming and Diving, recognizing her as the outstanding college female swimmer of the year.^[5]

At the 2005 World Championships in Montreal, Coventry improved on her 2004 Olympic medal count by winning gold in both the 100 m and 200 m backstroke and silver in the 200 m and the 400 m IM. She bettered her Olympic gold-winning 200 m backstroke time with a performance of 2:08.52. Although she was one of just two swimmers from Zimbabwe, her performance allowed her country to rank third in the medal count by nation. In addition she picked up the female swimmer of the meet honors.

In Melbourne at the 2007 World Championships, Coventry won silver medals in the 200 m backstroke and 200 m IM. She was disqualified in the 400 m IM when finishing second to eventual winner Katie Hoff in her heat. Coventry finished in a disappointing 14th place in the 100 m backstroke in a time of 1:01.73, failing to qualify for the final.

Coventry continued her good form of 2007 by winning four gold medals at the International Swim Meet in Narashino, Japan. She led the way in the 200 m and 400 m IM as well as the 100 m and 200 m backstroke.

In 2008, Coventry broke her first world record in the 200 m backstroke at the Missouri Grand Prix. She bettered the mark set by Krisztina Egerszegi in August 1991, the second oldest swimming world record. Her new record was 2:06:39. Coventry continued her winning streak at the meet by winning the 100 m backstroke and the 200 m IM. Coventry is the third woman in history to break the 1:00 minute barrier in the 100 m backstroke, and the second to break the 59-second barrier.

At the 2008 Manchester Short Course World Championships, Coventry broke her second world record, setting a time, whilst winning the gold medal, of 4:26:52 in the 400 m IM. The following day saw Coventry win her second gold medal of the championships in the 100 m backstroke. Her time of 57:10 was a new championship record and the second fastest time in history in the event. Only Natalie Coughlin has swum faster (56:51). Day three of the championships saw Coventry break another championship record in qualifying fastest for the final of the 200 m backstroke. Her time of 2:03:69 was a mere four tenths of a second outside the current world record set by Reiko Nakamura in Tokyo in 2008. Coventry then bettered this time to take her second world record of the championships by winning the final in a time of 2:00:91. She then went on to shatter the short course World Record in winning the 200 m individual medley in 2:06:13. Due to her performances at the World Championships, Coventry was named as the FINA Female Swimmer of the Championships.

Coventry represented Zimbabwe at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.^[6] Coventry won the silver medal in the 400 m individual medley on 10 August 2008, becoming the second woman to swim the medley in less than 4:30, the first being Stephanie Rice who won the gold in the same event. Coventry beat the world record by just under two seconds, and was only just beaten by Rice to a new world record. Coventry, in the second semi-final of the 100 m Backstroke, set a new world record of 58.77 seconds. However, in the final of that event she was beaten to the gold medal by Natalie Coughlin. Coventry was again beaten by Stephanie Rice in the 200 m individual medley, despite swimming under the old world record. Coventry did defend her Olympic title in the 200 m backstroke, winning gold in a world record time of 2:05.24.

Awarded US$100,000 by President Mugabe for her success at the Olympics, Coventry gave a portion of that money to charity.^[7]

On 28 November 2008, Coventry's short course 400 IM World Record was broken by American Julia Smit.

At the 2009 World Championships in Rome, Coventry won a gold and a silver. She won the 200 m backstroke world title with a world record time and came second in the 400 m individual medley. She came fourth in the 200 m individual medley final and eighth in the 100m backstroke final.

At the 2012 Olympics in London, Coventry finished third in her semifinal heat of the 200m individual medley, just edging her into the final, where she placed 6th with a time of 2:11.13. In the 200 m backstroke, she finished outside the medals in sixth place with a time of 2:08.18.

In 2012, she was elected to the IOC Athletes' Commission. She will serve as an IOC member for eight years.^[8]

Personal life

On 10 August 2013, Coventry married Tyrone Seward^[9] who has been her manager since 2010.^[10]

Medals

2002 Commonwealth Games medals

• Gold in the 200 m IM (2:14.53)

2004 Olympic medals

• Bronze in the 200 m IM (2:12.72) – Zimbabwe's second Olympic medal
• Gold in the 200 m backstroke (2:09.19)
• Silver in the 100 m backstroke (1:00.50)

2005 World Championship medals

• Gold in the 100 m backstroke (1:00.24)
• Gold in the 200 m backstroke (2:08.52)
• Silver in the 200 m IM (2:11.13)
• Silver in the 400 m IM (4:39.72)

2007 All-Africa Games

• Gold in the 200 m IM (2:13.02 CR)
• Gold in the 400 m IM (4:39.91 CR)
• Gold in the 50 m freestyle (26.19)
• Gold in the 800 m freestyle (8:43.89 CR)
• Gold in the 50 m backstroke (28.89 AR)
• Gold in the 100 m backstroke (1:01.28 CR)
• Gold in the 200 m backstroke (2:10.66 CR)
• Silver in the 100 m breaststroke (1:11.86)
• Silver in the 4 × 100 m medley (4:21.60 NR)
• Silver in the 4 × 200 m freestyle (8:38.20 NR)

2007 World Championship medals

• Silver in the 200 m backstroke (2:07.54)
• Silver in the 200 m IM (2:10.74)

2008 Olympic Medals

• Silver in the 400 m IM (4:29.89 AR)
• Silver in the 100 m Backstroke (59.19)(58.77 WR semis)
• Silver in the 200 m IM (2:08.59 AR)
• Gold in the 200 m Backstroke (2:05.24) WR

2009 World Championship medals

• Gold in the 200 m backstroke (2:04.81) WR
• Silver in the 400 m IM (4:32.12)

2011 All-Africa Games

• Gold in the 200 m IM (2:13.70)
• Gold in the 400 m IM (4:44.34)
• Gold in the 100 m backstroke (1:00.86 CR)
• Gold in the 200 m backstroke (2:12.40)
• Silver in the 100 m butterfly (1:02.20)
• Silver in the 4 × 100 m medley (4:24.01)
• Silver in the 4 × 100 m freestyle (3:57.81)
• Silver in the 4 × 200 m freestyle

See also

• World record progression 100 metres backstroke
• World record progression 200 metres backstroke

References

1. "Zimbabwe puts aside racial tensions to give hero's welcome to triple medal winner", USA Today, 25 August 2004
2. "2004 Olympic Games swimming results". CNN. Retrieved 22 July 2007.
3. "Kirsty Coventry: Success brings rare cheer to Zimbabwe", Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 6 June 2008
4. BBC NEWS | Africa | Zimbabwe swimmer gets cash prize 29 August 2008
5. Collegiate Women Sports Awards, Past Honda Sports Award Winners for Swimming & Diving. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
6. "Zimbabwe preparations for Olympic Games gather momentum", Xinhua, 21 May 2008
7. "Coventry hands cash to charity", Sapa-Associated Press (IOL), 12 September 2008.
8. Results of the IOC Athletes' Commission Election
9. "Kirsty Coventry's wedding joy". New Zimbabwe. 13 August 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
10. Charowa, Audrey (20 August 2012). "Kirsty Coventry demands Lobola from Boyfriend". ZimEye. Retrieved 15 September 2012.

External links

• Official website
• Kirsty Coventry on Facebook
• Kirsty Coventry on Twitter