Kirsty Coventry Height, Age, Husband, Children, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Kirsty Coventry

• Kirsty Coventry grew up in Harare, Zimbabwe.
  

  A childhood picture of Kirsty Coventry

• Her family runs Omnichem, a Harare-based company specialising in household cleaning and laundry products.

• She was about 18 months old when her mother introduced her to swimming.
  

  Kirsty Coventry learning to swim with her parents

• As a child, Kirsty loved visiting Lake Kariba, fishing with her father, and watching wildlife. Her competitive nature showed early as she always aimed to catch a bigger fish than before.

• In 1989, Kirsty joined Highlands Junior School’s swimming club, where she trained in outdoor and unheated pools. She was 9 when she told her father that she wanted to compete in the Olympics and win a gold medal.

• In 1994, Coventry volunteered at swimming events during the All-Africa Games held in Harare.

• At the age of 12, she joined the Pirates Swimming Club, where she trained under Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson for most of her swimming career at a high school pool.

• Her parents initially struggled with money, especially for travel. To help her compete in swimming competitions in South Africa, they sold hamburgers and hot dogs at swimming meets and outside supermarkets.

• Kirsty never considered specialising in backstroke until her coach insisted she give it a try. That decision led her to set records and achieve major victories in the stroke.
  

  Kirsty Coventry while holding her medals

• In 2000, Kirsty earned a spot at the Summer Olympics held in Sydney while still studying in high school. She became Zimbabwe’s first swimmer to make it to the semifinals and was recognised as the country’s Sports Woman of the Year.

• At the Sydney Olympics, Kirsty twice set a new Zimbabwean record in the 100-metre backstroke and also broke the African record in the 200-metre individual medley (IM) but did not qualify for the finals in either event.

• Kirsty competed in many swimming championships while studying at Auburn University. She was part of the Tigers swim team and played a key role in winning NCAA Championships in 2003 and 2004.

• Kirsty’s day as a student-athlete at Auburn University in Alabama started at 5:30 am, followed by swim practice at 6 am. She attended classes from 9 am to 1 pm before having lunch. She had another swim practice at 3 pm.

• In August 2004, Kirsty won three Olympic medals. She set a new African record after winning gold in the 200-metre backstroke. For her achievement in the event, the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee Paul Chingoka called her “a national treasure.”
  

  20 August 2004: Kirsty Coventry after receiving the gold medal for the women’s 200-metre backstroke swimming event during the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games at the Main Pool of the Olympic Sports

•  At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Kirsty won silver in the 100-metre backstroke and set a new African record of 1:00:50. She also won bronze in the 200-metre individual medley, breaking another African record with a time of 2:12:72.

• At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Kirsty won Zimbabwe’s only three medals, making it the country’s second-highest medal count ever. She also became the first Zimbabwean athlete to win an individual Olympic medal.
  

  President Robert Mugabe while showing Kirsty Coventry’s medals that she won at the 2004 Athens Olympics

• In 2005, Coventry was the top individual scorer at the NCAA Championships, winning three titles: the 200-yard and 400-yard individual medley and the 200-yard backstroke for the second year in a row.

• In 2005, her exceptional performances in college swimming competitions earned her the Swimmer of the Meet title from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA).

• Kirsty won the 2004-05 Honda Sports Award for Swimming and Diving and was named Southeastern Conference (SEC) Swimmer of the Year in 2005.

• At the 2005 World Aquatics Championships held in Montreal, Canada, she won two gold and two silver medals, securing Zimbabwe’s third-place ranking in the medal count.

• At the 2007 World Aquatics Championships in Melbourne, Australia, Kirsty won two silver medals in the 200m backstroke and 200m IM. She was disqualified in the 400m IM and did not make it to the final in the 100m backstroke, finishing 14th.

• At the 2008 Missouri Grand Prix, Kirsty set her first world record in the 200m backstroke, breaking Hungarian swimmer Krisztina Egerszegi’s August 1991 record. She set a new time of 2:06:39, surpassing one of the longest-standing records in swimming.

• She later became the third woman ever to swim the 100m backstroke in under a minute and the second to go below 59 seconds.

• At the 2008 Manchester Short Course World Championships, Kirsty set a world record of 4:26:52 while winning gold in the 400m IM. She followed it up with another gold in the 100m backstroke with a time of 57.10, the second-fastest ever in the event.
  

  Kirsty Coventry during a championship

• On day three of the 2008 Manchester Championships, Kirsty set a championship record in the 200m backstroke with a time of 2:03:69, just 0.4 seconds off the world record set by Japanese swimmer Reiko Nakamura in Tokyo.

• On 10 August 2008, Coventry won silver in the 400m individual medley at the Summer Olympics, Beijing and became the second woman to complete the event in under 4:30, after Australian gold medallist Stephanie Rice.

• At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Kirsty set a world record of 58.77 seconds in the 100m backstroke semifinals but finished second in the final. She won silver in the 200m IM despite swimming faster than the previous world record.

• Kirsty won gold in the 200m backstroke at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and set a world record of 2:05:24. She was the only Zimbabwean athlete to win a medal, contributing to the country’s most Olympic medals ever.
  

  16 August 2008: Kirsty Coventry after winning gold in the 200-meter backstroke category at the Summer Olympics held in Beijing

• At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Kirsty won four medals, after which Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe called her “a golden girl” and awarded her US$100,000 in cash. She later gave a part of that money to a charity for disadvantaged children.

• At the 2009 World Aquatics Championships in Rome, Kirsty won gold in the 200m backstroke with a world record time and silver in the 400m IM. She also finished fourth in the 200m IM and eighth in the 100m backstroke final.

• At the 10th All-Africa Games, Maputo, she won four gold and four silver medals.

• At the 2012 London Olympics, Coventry carried the Zimbabwean flag at the opening ceremony for the first time. However, for the first time since 2000, she did not win a medal.

• In 2012, Kirsty became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
  

  Kirsty Coventry as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)

• She served as the International Olympic Committee Athlete Representative on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) from 2012 to 2021.

• In 2013, she became a member of the Zimbabwe National Olympic Committee (NOC).

• She joined team SwimMAC Elite in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2014.

• In 2014, Kirsty became a member of the Coordination Commission for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and served till 2021. In 2014, she also joined the Olympic Solidarity Commission.

• From 2014 to 2021, Kirsty was a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency Athlete Committee.
  

  Kirsty Coventry World (second from the left, standing) as a member of the Anti-Doping Agency Athlete Committee

• Kirsty competed in her final African Games in 2015 in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, winning three gold medals and one bronze.

• In 2015, she founded KCA Swim Academy aka Kirsty Coventry Academy, an organisation dedicated to make swimming lessons and water safety education more accessible for children.

• In 2015, Kirsty partnered with LifeFuels to contribute to the development of the Smart Nutrition Bottle.

• She served as a member of the Olympic Channel Commission from 2015 to 2018.

• After competing in her fifth Olympics in 2016, Kirsty retired from swimming, becoming one of the most decorated female swimmers in Olympic history.

• In 2016, she became the vice president of the International Surfing Association (ISA). That same year, she joined the Evaluation Commission for the 2024 Olympics and served until 2018.

• Kirsty served as a member of the Public Affairs and Social Development through Sport Commission from 2016 to 2018.

• In 2017, she became a member of the FINA Athlete Committee.

• Kirsty is a co-founder of HEROES, a non-profit organisation that uses sports to teach life skills to children aged 6 to 13 in underprivileged areas. It also offers training, motivational talks, and career advice for young athletes.
  

  Kirsty Coventry while giving swimming lessons to children

• In 2017, Kirsty was appointed as the vice president of the Zimbabwe National Olympic Committee. However, she stepped down in 2018 after being appointed as Zimbabwe’s Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation.

• Kirsty has been serving as Zimbabwe’s Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation since September 2018. However, she has faced criticism for not doing enough to support artists and athletes.

• Kirsty served on the IOC Executive Board as chairperson of the Athletes’ Commission from 2018 to 2021.
  

  Kirsty Coventry with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) members

• In 2018, she became the chairperson of the Coordination Commission for the Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026.

• She was appointed to the Evaluation Commission for the 2022 Youth Olympic Games in 2018. That same year, she also joined the Board of Directors of Olympic Channel Services S.A., Switzerland, where she served till 2021.

• In 2021, Kirsty became the chairperson of the Coordination Commission for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.

• In 2022, she became a member of the Public Affairs and Corporate Communications Commission.

• Kirsty became an individual member of the International Olympic Committee in 2023. She also joined the Finance Commission that same year.

• In September 2024, Kirsty ran for IOC president. During her campaign, she supported banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports.

• On 20 March 2025, Kirsty made history as the first woman and African to be elected as IOC president. She secured 49 votes on the first ballot.
  

  Kirsty Coventry while delivering a speech after being elected as the 10th IOC President at the 144th IOC Session in Costa Navarino, Greece, on 20 March 2025

• As the 10th president of the IOC, Kirsty became the second youngest to hold the position after Pierre de Coubertin, the historian and co-founder of the IOC, and the second Olympic champion after Thomas Bach, the outgoing president and former Olympic fencer.