Kirsty Coventry

Kirsty Leigh Coventry Seward (born 16 September 1983) is a Zimbabwean swimmer and politician currently serving as the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation in the Cabinet of Zimbabwe since September 2018.

A former Olympic swimmer and world record holder, she is the most decorated Olympian from Africa.

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.

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.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics, in Athens, Greece, Coventry won three Olympic medals: a gold, a silver, and a bronze, 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".

At the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Coventry won three medals, including a gold medal in the 200 meter backstroke.

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.

In 2005, she was the top individual scorer at the NCAA Championships and captured three individual titles including the 200-yard and 400 y individual medley (IM), and the 200 y 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.

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.

She was one of just two swimmers from Zimbabwe along with rising junior Warren Paynter.

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.

She 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.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe called her "a golden girl," and personally awarded her US$100,000 in cash for her 2008 Olympic performance.

In 2008, Coventry broke her first world record in the 200 m backstroke at the Missouri Grand Prix.

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.

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.

In 2016, Coventry retired from swimming after her fifth Olympics, having won the joint-most individual medals in women's swimming in Olympic history.

She is a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and was elected the Chairperson of the IOC Athletes' Commission, the body that represents all Olympic athletes worldwide in early 2018.

Born in Harare, Coventry attended and swam competitively for Auburn University in Alabama, in the United States.