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 The Cabinet of Zimbabwe is the executive body that forms the government of Zimbabwe together with the President of Zimbabwe. The Cabinet is composed of the President, the Vice-Presidents, and ministers appointed by the President. Until 1987, the C ...

since September 2018. A former

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

swimmer and world record holder, she is the most decorated Olympian from Africa. She is a member of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...

(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 Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

, Coventry attended and swam competitively for

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

, in the United States."Zimbabwe puts aside racial tensions to give hero's welcome to triple medal winner"
''USA Today'', 25 August 2004. At the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, in

Athens, Greece Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

, Coventry won three Olympic medals: a gold, a silver, and a bronze, while in the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

she won four medals: a gold and three silver. She was subsequently described by Paul Chingoka, head of the

Zimbabwe Olympic Committee The Zimbabwe Olympic Committee (IOC code: ZIM) is the National Olympic Committee representing Zimbabwe. It was created in 1934 and recognised by the International Olympic Committee, IOC in 1980. Zimbabwe made its debut at the 1980 Summer Olympic ...

, as "our national treasure". Zimbabwean President

Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the ...

called her "a golden girl," and personally awarded her US$100,000 in cash for her 2008 Olympic performance. In 2016, Coventry retired from swimming after her fifth Olympics, having won the joint-most individual medals in women's swimming in Olympic history.

Swimming career

2000 Olympics

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.

2004 Olympics

At the

2004 Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

, Coventry won three medals, including a gold medal in the 200 meter backstroke.

College career

As a student at

, Coventry helped lead the Tigers to

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(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-yard and 400 y

individual medley Medley is a combination of four different swimming styles—backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle—into one race. This race is either swum by one swimmer as individual medley (IM) or by four swimmers as a medley relay. Individual m ...

(IM), and the 200 y

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disadvantage of swimm ...

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 The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(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 The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in th ...

for Swimming and Diving, recognizing her as the outstanding college female swimmer of the year.

2005 World Championships

At the 2005 World Championships in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

, 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.

2007 World Championships

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

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 Kathryn Elise Hoff (born June 3, 1989) is a former American competitive swimmer, she is an Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder. Hoff was known for her success in the 200-meter and 400-meter individual medley. She represented the Un ...

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. She continued her good form of 2007 by winning four gold medals at the International Swim Meet in

Narashino is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 175,292 in 81,985 households and a population density of 8400 persons per km². The total area of the city is Geography Narashino is located in far northw ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. She led the way in the 200 m and 400 m IM as well as the 100 m and 200 m backstroke.

2008

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 Krisztina Egerszegi (; born 16 August 1974) is a Hungarian former world record holding swimmer and one of the greatest Hungarian Olympic champions of the modern era. She is a three-time Olympian (1988, 1992 and 1996) and five-time Olympic cham ...

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 Natalie Anne Coughlin Hall (born August 23, 1982) is an American former competition swimmer and twelve-time Olympic medalist. While attending the University of California, Berkeley, she became the first woman ever to swim the 100-meter backstro ...

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 is a Japanese Olympic and Asian record-holding swimmer. She swam in the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games, winning the bronze medals in the 200m backstroke at both editions. In doing so, she became the first Japanese woman in 72 years to win medals at ...

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

. 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 Stephanie Louise Rice, OAM (born 17 June 1988) is an Australian former competitive swimmer. She won three gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia on 26 January 2009. On 9 April 2 ...

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 that money to charity.

2009 World Championships

At the 2009 World Championships in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, 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 100 m backstroke final.

2012 and 2016 Olympics

At the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, Coventry finished third in her semifinal heat of the 200 m 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. Her fifth and final Olympic appearance came at the

2016 Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, where she repeated her 6th-place performance in the 200 meter backstroke from 2012, with a time of 2:08.80. She also finished 11th in the 100 meter backstroke. She retired after the 2016 Olympics.

International Olympic Committee

In 2012, she was elected to the

Athletes' Commission. She is serving as an IOC member for eight years.

Political career

On 7 September 2019, eight days shy of her 35th birthday, she was appointed Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

's 20-member Cabinet under President

Emmerson Mnangagwa Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa (, US: (); born 15 September 1942) is a Zimbabwean politician who has served as President of Zimbabwe since 24 November 2017. A member of ZANU–PF and a longtime ally of former President Robert Mugabe, he held a ...

. This has come with a lot of criticism due to her lack of effort in supporting the youth or improving sport as a whole in the country. In 2019 Zimbabwean Creatives labelled her the worst sectors' minister who has failed to show an understanding of Arts and Culture. While others have gone as far as her being dubbed "the worst Zimbabwean minister since 1980." Coventry also just found out she was pregnant with her first child.ED names 20-member cabinet http://www.zbc.co.zw/new-cabinet-0announced/ She was accused of having grabbed a farm belonging to former President Robert Mugabe's nephew, Robert Zhuwao, but was cleared after it became clear that she received subdivision 4 while Zhuwao had lost subdivision 1 of Cockington Farm.

Personal life

Coventry attended

Dominican Convent High School, Harare Dominican Convent High School (commonly referred to as Convent) is a private Catholic day school for girls in Harare, Zimbabwe. One of the oldest established schools in Zimbabwe, Dominican Convent was founded in 1892 by Mother Patrick Cosgrave, an ...

, in Zimbabwe until 1999. On 10 August 2013, Coventry married Tyrone Seward who had been her manager since 2010. In May 2019, she gave birth to her first child.

Swimming results

With seven Olympic medals, Coventry is the most decorated Olympian from Africa. Together with

, she also won the most individual Olympic medals in women's swimming. She competed at five Olympics, from 2000–2016. She won all but one of Zimbabwe's Olympic 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

2015 All-Africa Games

* Gold 100m Backstroke (1:01.15) * Gold 200m Backstroke (2:13.29) * Gold 200m Individual Medley (2:16.05)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coventry, Kirsty 1983 births Living people Alumni of Dominican Convent High School Auburn Tigers women's swimmers Olympic gold medalists for Zimbabwe Olympic silver medalists for Zimbabwe Olympic bronze medalists for Zimbabwe Olympic swimmers of Zimbabwe Sportspeople from Harare Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics World record setters in swimming Zimbabwean expatriates in the United States Zimbabwean female butterfly swimmers Zimbabwean people of British descent Swimmers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Zimbabwe Zimbabwean female backstroke swimmers White Zimbabwean sportspeople Zimbabwean female medley swimmers Olympic bronze medalists in swimming Zimbabwean female freestyle swimmers World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming International Olympic Committee members Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in swimming Olympic silver medalists in swimming Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming African Games gold medalists for Zimbabwe African Games medalists in swimming African Games silver medalists for Zimbabwe African Games bronze medalists for Zimbabwe Competitors at the 2007 All-Africa Games Competitors at the 2011 All-Africa Games Competitors at the 2015 African Games Sportsperson-politicians Zimbabwean female breaststroke swimmers