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RIO DE JANEIRO. — Zimbabwe’s all-time record Olympic medallist and swimming sensation Kirsty Coventry is out to make history once again. Having won seven of Zimbabwe’s eight Olympic medals since Independence in 1980, 32-year-old Coventry has once again set her eyes on winning medals at the forthcoming Rio Olympic Games.The Olympic swimming champion has qualified for her fifth and final Olympic Games which began in Rio de Janeiro yesterday to cap her incredible sporting journey that has inspired many young athletes in Africa and beyond.

Coventry was born and bred in Zimbabwe where she attended high school before moving to the US where she furthered her education while honing her swimming skills at the same time.

It has been said that the swimming career of Coventry benefited immensely from the state-of-the-art facilities provided at Auburn University in Alabama where she studied.

With a strong passion for the sport, Coventry made Olympic Games debut in Sydney in 2000 when she was just 17.

In 2004, she won her first Olympic gold medal in Athens as well as silver and bronze.

The moment marked the beginning of a record-breaking athletic career which has seen her ultimately becoming one of the world’s highest achieving female swimmers. — AFP