Coventry also broke the women`s 200m backstroke world record in Columbia, Missouri in February 2008 with a time of 2min 06.39sec.
At just 16, she took part at Sydney 2000 and became the first swimmer from Zimbabwe to reach the Olympic semi-finals.
Of course she didn`t stop there as the backstroke and medley specialist won her first major title with a gold at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the 200 individual medley in Manchester. She was 18.
Text : AFP
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