Kirsty Leigh Coventry (born September 16, 1983) is a
Zimbabwean swimmer and world record holder. Born in
Harare, Zimbabwe, she attended and swam
competitively for Auburn University in Alabama, in
the United States. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, in
Athens, Greece, Coventry won three olympic medals, a
gold, a silver, and a bronze.
At Auburn, Coventry helped lead the Tigers to 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
and 400 individual medley (IM), and the 200
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 SEC Swimmer of the Year, the 2004-2005
SEC Female Athlete of the Year, and the 2005 Honda
Award Winner for Swimming.
In 2000, while in still in high school, Coventry
became the first Zimbabwe swimmer to reach the
semifinals at the Olympics and was named Zimbabwe's
Sports Woman of the Year.
At the 2005 World Championships in Montreal, Kirsty
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 Kirsty picked up the female
swimmer of the meet honours.
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. Kirsty 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.
2008 saw Coventry break her first world record in
the 200m backstroke at the Missouri Grand Prix. She
lowered the mark set by Krisztina Egerszegi in
August 1991, the second oldest swimming world
record. The record now stands at 2:06:39. Coventry
continued her winning streak at the meet by winning
the 100 m backstroke and the 200 m IM, beating the
favourite Katie Hoff in the process.
