Kirsty Coventry - Swimming, Athlete - Tiyambuke Biography #StirTheGift #Olympics

Kirsty Coventry is Zimbabwe’s top Olympian, having won seven of the country’s eight Olympic medals to date. 

One of the world’s top backstroke and medley swimmers, she won three medals in the 2004 Olympics, including a gold in the 200 m backstroke. She retained that title in 2008, and has added four silver and one bronze medal to her tally.

Kirsty Coventry - Swimming, Athlete - Tiyambuke Biography #StirTheGift #Olympics

Coventry has also won three long course world titles, winning the 100 and 200 m backstroke in 2005 and her specialty event, the 200 m backstroke in 2009. At the 2008 short course World Championships, she triumphed in four events.

Background: Coventry was born on 16 September 1983 in Harare. After having completed part of her studies at Dominican Convent High School in Zimbabwe, Kirsty got a full scholarship to further her education at Auburn University in Alabama where she graduated with a Bachelor of Human Science Hotel and Restaurant Management. The swimming career of Kirsty benefited immensely from the state of the art facilities provided at Auburn.
The Rise to Stardom and Major Successes: At Auburn Coventry managed to get into the school's swimming team. She first shot to prominence in the Commonwealth games in 2002 held in Manchester where she clinched a gold medal in the 200-metre individual medley event. This was after Kirsty then 16, had been part of the Zimbabwe Olympic team that had failed to make an impact in the Sydney games and not won a medal. At the Athens games, Coventry made the headlines by winning three medals namely gold, silver and bronze. In the 2008 edition of the Olympic games, she also managed to retain her gold title in the 200 m backstroke. Coventry also added four silver and another bronze to her medals tally bringing the sum total to 7 medals; 2 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze. Coventry has also won three long course world titles, winning the 100 and 200 m backstroke in 2005 and her specialty event, the 200 m backstroke in 2009. At the 2008 short course World Championships, she triumphed in four events.

Accolades
2004 Olympic games- Athens, Greece

• Gold 200m backstroke
• Silver
• Bronze

2008 Olympic games- Beijing, China

• Gold 200m backstroke
• Silver 400m Individual Medley
• Silver 100m backstroke
• Silver 200m Individual Medley.

2011 All-Africa Games - Maputo, Mozambique

• 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 4x100 m medley (4:24.01)
• Silver in the 4x100 m freestyle (3:57.81)
• Silver in the 4x200 m freestyle

2015 All-Africa Games- Congo Brazzaville

• Gold in the 100m backstroke (1:01.15)

African Union Sports Council 2015 Region 5 Awards

• Sportswoman of the Year-won

Personal life: Coventry is married to long time boyfriend Tyrone Seward who also doubles as her manager. The two were first married in a traditional ceremony in which Tyrone paid lobola to the Coventrys. The traditional ceremony was then followed by a wedding

The Tiyambuke International Christian Convention (TICC) is an annual gathering of Christian believers from various denominations, organized by Glory Ministries under the leadership of Apostle Pride and Anna Sibiya.

With its inception in 2001, TICC has grown to become one of the largest conferences in Zimbabwe.

The convention's name, "Tiyambuke," meaning "Let Us Cross Over," reflects its mission to lead people out of ignorance, sin, and bondage into a life of knowledge, love for God, health, prosperity, and freedom.