NOT resting on her laurels since retiring from competitive swimming after her fifth and final Olympic Games appearance, Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry is on the cusp of taking on yet another new venture today.
BY SPORTS REPORTER
Already serving as a representative on the Foundation Board of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), as a member of the Wada Athletic Committee, and, most recently, earning a vice presidency role at the International Surfing Association, Coventry is among the candidates for the role of vice president of the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee (ZOC).
Running against the president of the Zimbabwe Volleyball Association, Federick Ndlovu, as well as the vice-chair of the Northern Region Division One Soccer League, Martin Kweza and the incumbent Thabani Gonye, the 33-year-old decorated seven-time Olympic medalist is vying for one of two available ZOC vice president roles.
The incumbent president Admire Masenda will stand for a third and final term against former Zimbabwe Karate Union boss Joe Rugwete and ex-Young Warriors team manager Charles Mukaronda.
The voting will take place at the ZOC’s elective general assembly at Prince Edward School today, where candidates for president, treasurer and seven board members will also be decided.
Throughout her historic career as Zimbabwe’s most-decorated athlete, Coventry collected seven Olympic medals, including back-to-back 200m backstroke gold medals at the 2004 and 2008 Games.
She also was a mainstay on the World Championships scene, competing at every edition from the year 2000 through to 2016. In Rio, Coventry acted as flag bearer and went on to land on 11th position in the 100m backstroke and sixth in the 200m backstroke.
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In addition to her aforementioned work with Wada, she is serving on the Coordination Committee for the Tokyo 2020 Games and is a member of the Olympic Solidarity organisation.
In 2015, Coventry kick-started her own Kirsty Coventry Academy in Zimbabwe with the goal of reducing drowning deaths in the country.
