ZIMBABWE: OLYMPICS BEIJING 2008 - Zimbabweans upbeat after Kirsty Coventry wins Olympic gold

Record ID: 735284

  • Title: ZIMBABWE: OLYMPICS BEIJING 2008 - Zimbabweans upbeat after Kirsty Coventry wins Olympic gold
  • Date: 17th August 2008
  • Summary: HARARE, ZIMBABWE (AUGUST 16 2008) (REUTERS) HARARE STREET VARIOUS OF NEWSPAPER HEADLINES
  • Embargoed: 1st September 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Zimbabwe
  • Country: Zimbabwe
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA5WT7I83RGPWS9FT0PIBDVWLTF
  • Story Text: Zimbabweans rejoice with the success of their best Olympian, Kirsty Coventry after she wins gold in the 200 metre backstroke in a world record time -- her second medal in the Beijing Games.
    Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry, faced with the prospect of leaving the Olympics with a bag full of silver, found the necessary extra to add gold when she won the women's 200 metre backstroke in a world record time on Saturday (August 16).
    Coventry had won the event in Athens four years ago but after she won silver in the 200 and 400 individual medleys and the 100 metres backstroke in Beijing, she was desperate to keep her gold.
    In Zimbabwe, Harare residents forgot the political crisis and the world's highest inflation rate of 2.2 million percent to celebrate Coventry's success.

    "Kirsty has raised our flag in a good way, not in a way that we see our flag being raised or our issues being raised in television, I think its wonderful news," a man said.
    Another resident of Zimbabwe's capital added: "She has made us great, we are a great nation and also that she is of the other colour, it means Zimbabwe is great."
    A third resident said it was the best thing that could have happened in a country ravaged by widespread unemployment and shortages of food and fuel.

    "I think its absolutely wonderful for the country, especially for what the country has been going through, its probably the best news we have heard in a long, long time," he said.
    Although the 24-year-old spends most of her time in the United States, Coventry's family live in Zimbabwe and they made the trip to Beijing in time to see her win gold.
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