Kirsty Coventry
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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 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. 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.
In 2008, Coventry broke her first world record in the 200m 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, beating Katie Hoff in the process. Kirsty Coventry is the third woman in history to break the 1:00 minute barrier in the 100 m backstroke, and is the 3rd fastest swimmer of all-time at 59.42 in this event (as of March 2008), behind American Natalie Coughlin (59.21) and Russian Anastasia Zueva (59.41). As of June 1, 2008; eleven women have cracked the minute barrier.
At the 2008 Manchester Short Course World Championships, Kirsty 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 swam faster (56:51). Day three of the championships saw Coventry break another championship record in qualifying fastest for the final of the 200m 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 200m Individual Medley in 2:06:13. Due to her performances at the World Championships, Kirsty Coventry was named as the FINA Female Swimmer of the Championships.
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[edit] 2007 All-Africa Games
- Gold in the 200-meter IM (2:13.02 CR)
- Gold in the 400-meter IM (4:39.91 CR)
- Gold in the 50-meter freestyle (26.19)
- Gold in the 800-meter freestyle (8:43.89 CR)
- Gold in the 50-meter backstroke (28.89 AR)
- Gold in the 100-meter backstroke (1:01.28 CR)
- Gold in the 200-meter backstroke (2:10.66 CR)
- Silver in the 100-meter breaststroke (1:11.86)
- Silver in the 4x100-meter medley (4:21.60 NR)
- Silver in the 4x200-meter freestyle (8:38.20 NR)
[edit] 2007 World Championship medals
- Silver in the 200-meter backstroke (2:07.54)
- Silver in the 200-meter IM (2:10.74)
[edit] 2005 World Championship medals
- Gold in the 100-meter backstroke (1:00.24)
- Gold in the 200-meter backstroke (2:08.52)
- Silver in the 200-meter IM (2:11.13)
- Silver in the 400-meter IM (4:39.72)
[edit] 2004 Olympic medals
- Bronze in the 200-meter IM (2:12.72) - Zimbabwe's second Olympic medal
- Gold in the 200-meter backstroke (2:09.19)
- Silver in the 100-meter backstroke (1:00.50)
[edit] References
- ^ 2004 Olympic Games swimming results. Retrieved on 2007-07-22.
- ^ Montreal 2005 Results. Retrieved on 2007-06-09.
- ^ 12th FINA World Championships. Retrieved on 2007-06-09.
- ^ BBC Sport Commonwealth Games 2002 Statistics. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.
[edit] Video Links
[edit] External links
- Auburn University profile
- Results & Videos on SwimPassion.net
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Incumbent |
World African Swimmer of the Year 2004 – 2005 |
Succeeded by Suzaan van Biljon |
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