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Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE Cricket have congratulated the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation after she was conferred with a prestigious national honour by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Coventry received the special honour, the Order of the Star of Zimbabwe Gold Medal, in recognition of her sporting excellence.
“Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) would like to congratulate Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister Kirsty Coventry on receiving a prestigious national honour, the Order of the Star of Zimbabwe Gold Medal, in recognition of her sporting excellence.
“She received the special award from President Emmerson Mnangagwa during the National Heroes Day commemoration in Harare on Monday,’’ said ZC in a statement.
Tavengwa Mukuhlani, the ZC chairman said Coventry was an exceptional athlete and her recognition by President Mnangagwa is richly deserved.
“Minister Coventry was a phenomenal athlete who accomplished great feats and her latest recognition by President Mnangagwa, coming soon after she was elected as a full member of the IOC board, is very special and well deserved. We send our heartfelt congratulations to her and wish her the best in all her endeavours,’’ Mukuhlani said.
Coventry, a former swimmer is the most decorated Olympian from Africa with seven individual medals at the biggest sporting event in the world. She won seven of Zimbabwe’s eight Olympic medals, with the other medal secured by the women’s hockey team at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Coventry, who retired after the 2016 Rio Olympics won the joint-most individual medals in women’s swimming in Olympic history, a record she shares with Krisztina Egerszegi of Hungary.
The 37-year old Coventry’s conferment with the Order of the Star of Zimbabwe Gold Medal came less than a month after she was elected as a full independent member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) board. She had served as a member of the IOC Athletes Commission since 2013 and a member of its executive board since 2018.
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