adminLONDON. – Record Olympic medal winner Michael Phelps and Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry are among those to be inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Coventry, 39, is an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member who is being talked about as a prospective future candidate for the IOC Presidency.
The seven-time Olympic swimming medallist is the most decorated Olympian in any sport from Africa.
She and Krisztina Egerszegi share the record for the most individual Olympic medals in women’s swimming.
Coventry competed in five Olympic Games, from 2000 to 2016, and has won all but one of Zimbabwe’s eight Olympic medals.
She won two Olympic golds after tasting glory in the 200 metres backstroke at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.
The Zimbabwean also won four silvers and one bronze, all in individual events.
She is a four-time world champion and a five-time world-record holder, and since 2018 has been serving as Zimbabwe’s Sports Minister.
During his swimming career, American legend Phelps swam in five Olympic Games between 2000 and 2016, winning a record total of 28 Olympic medals.
Twenty-three of these were gold, while he topped up his tally with three silvers and two bronze.
He could swim any stroke and the 37-year-old set 39 world records in his sensational career, winning 27 world titles.
Also inducted is Missy Franklin of the United States, who retired in 2018 having won four golds and a bronze at the London 2012 Olympics
She set a female record of six world golds the following year.
Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima, who won the 100 and 200m breaststroke at Athens 2004 and retained both titles at Beijing 2008, is another to be inducted.
He is joined by Cesar Cielo of Brazil, who won the Beijing 2008 men’s 50m freestyle title and earned two Olympic bronzes, six world golds and five short-course titles.
South Africa’s anti-apartheid campaigner Sam Ramsamy has been honoured as a contributor. – Inside the Games.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter