It does not matter where you come from, you can still be a shining light in your world. This is the story of Africa’s golden girl, Kirsty Coventry.
Zimbabwe boasts a wide range of successful athletes that established a name in the international sports arena – genuinely famous superstars in global sports’ history. The likes of Liverpool’s legend, Bruce Grobbelaar and Peter Ndlovu of Coventry city FC’s fame, the two of which were the only African footballers in the opening match day of the inaugural season of the English Premier League in 1992-93, Benjani Mwaruwari, a top leading Zimbabwean striker who was known during his spells at England’s most prominent clubs such as Manchester City, Sunderland, and Blackburn Rovers, Liz Chase who is considered the most famous Zimbabwean athlete. Being a hockey player of the national team, she won the gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Moscow in 1980 and the renowned Golfer, Nick Price, but none of these surpassed Kirsty Coventry in global accolades.
This swimming goddess was born in Harare, Zimbabwe. She debuted in the 2000 summer Olympics in Sydney as a high school girl. She was named Zimbabwe’s Sportswoman of the Year after reaching the semi-finals at that summer’s games. At just 17 years old she was ranked the 12th fastest swimmer in the world.
She later went on to win three Olympic medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics, in Athens, Greece: a gold, a silver, and a bronze.
Her gold in the 200m backstroke that summer was in her last race in the games and this marked a milestone in her career.
Kirsty Coventry also won four medals at 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing: a gold and three silver. The year 2008 was clearly the pinnacle of her career as an athlete. Her gold medal in this 2008 Olympic games in Beijing was remarkable because this was when she broke the world record in the 200m backstroke at the highest level (The Olympics). She had earlier broken the world record at the Missouri Grand Prix, beating the Hungarian former world champion, Krisztina Egerszegi’s second-oldest swimming record of 1991. Coventry became the third woman in history to break the one-minute barrier in the 100m backstroke and the second to break the 59-second barrier.
Due to her remarkable swimming prowess, Kirsty Coventry is affectionately known as ‘Mangwenya’, in her native country Zimbabwe, a nickname in the local dialect of Shona (Bantu), loosely translated from the word ‘crocodile’ which lives in the waters. This is in homage to the crocodile’s dominance in Zimbabwean rivers.
Limpopo River on the border of Zimbabwe with South Africa and the Zambezi River catchment between Zimbabwe and Zambia are homes to one of the four species of the monstrous amphibian – the Nile Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) – a very successful swimmer that has been clocked by marine researchers to swim at 15 to 18 mph (24 to 29 km/h) in short bursts, around three times as fast as the fastest human swimmers. This mirrors a symbol of strength and resilience. The nickname underscores her connection to her home country and its natural heritage. So “Mangwenya” is certainly a fitting metaphor for this local heroine.
Kirsty Coventry broke 5 world records in total during her illustrious career. In 2008 at the 9th Short Course Fédération internationale de natation (FINA) World Championships in Manchester, England, Coventry broke her second world record, setting a time, whilst winning the gold medal, of 4:26:52 in the 400m Individual Medley. The following day saw Coventry win her second gold medal of the championships in the 100 m backstroke. She also set a new world record of 2 minutes .91 seconds in the 200m backstroke in this Championship. She singlehandedly won 7 out of the total 8 medals won by Zimbabwe in all their Olympics history till date.
Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe (Late), called her “a golden girl,” and personally awarded her US$100,000 in cash for her 2008 Olympic performance, the money she immediately ploughed back to charity to support the needy among her people.
Coventry retired from swimming in 2016 after participating in 5 straight Olympics games.
With her 7 games’ medals Coventry is equal with the USA’s Katie Ledecky for the most individual swimming medals by a woman in all history. She is currently the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation in the Cabinet of Zimbabwe under President Emmerson Mnangagwa since September 2018.
In 2012, Kirsty was elected to the International Olympic Committee’s Athletes’ Commission.
Kirsty continues to invest her time and experience in Africa. she is also a member of The Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) Athlete’s Commission, Vice-President of the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee, provides coaching and swimming lessons at her non-profit organization, the Kirsty Coventry Academy, and has recently launched a program for low-income and underserved areas – HEROES: Empowering children through sport.
Beyond swimming, Kirsty Coventry is a role model and a hugely inspirational figure for many women and young people across Africa, brimming with traditional and cultural values of the continent and she has never shied away from celebrating her heritage.
In 2013 Kirsty and her Chinhoyi born and bred fiancé, Tyrone Seward married in the core traditional African way with full payment of “Lobola”, a tradition of the Shona people of Southern Africa that has endured for centuries. Lobola is a type of bride price where the man exchanges an agreed upon asset in exchange for his daughter’s hand in marriage.
Kirsty was bred among the Shona people culturally and her Bantu-speaking people live chiefly in the eastern half of Zimbabwe, north of the Lundi River.
“In African culture you will always find two factors that are passed on through generations: the importance of Family and the importance of Tradition. Tyrone and I understand, respect and live this,” the elated Kirsty said after her in-laws delivered the ‘Mombe’ (cattle) to her father as part of the agreed Lobola to ask her hand in marriage.
References:
- “Are these Africa’s 25 best athletes of the 21st century?” By Leonard Solms and Lindsay du Plessis July 2024,
- “The most decorated Olympian from Africa” By David Rubio Salguero Saturday, 19 October 2024
- “Zimbabwe: 10 things to know about Kirsty Coventry, shortlisted to head International Olympic Committee” By Farai Shawn Matiashe for The Africa Report, October 2024.
- “Beyond the Olympics.” An extract from the Kirsty Coventry Academy. October 2023
- “Tribes people group Shona” Written by Richard Stead etal (Meerensee,Richards Bay, KwaZulu Natal) for African crafts market magazine, January 2023.
- “Victoria Falls” Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. December 4, 2024
- “The Mighty Crocodiles of the Limpopo River” Article by Petrina Darrah. April 7, 2023
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Edited by Niyi Akinola
