section_path: Swimming career/2000 and 2004 Olympics
section_name: 2000 and 2004 Olympics
paragraph_text: 2000 and 2004 Olympics
  
  In 2000, while still in high school at the Dominican Convent in Harare, Coventry qualified for the Olympics in Sydney. She became the first Zimbabwean swimmer to reach the semifinals at the Olympics and was named the country's Sports Woman of the Year. In the games, she broke the Zimbabwean national record twice in the 100 metre backstroke event, and African continental record in the 200 metre individual medley event; she did not qualify for the finals in either event.
  
  She qualified for the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, winning gold in the 200 metre individual medley event. She finished with a time of 2:14.53, a Commonwealth Games record.
  
  Coventry qualified for her second Olympics, in 2004 in Athens, Greece. She won three medals, including a gold medal in the 200-metre backstroke event; where she broke an African continental record. Coventry won a silver medal in the 100 metre backstroke event. She finished behind the winner by 0.13 of a second, breaking an African record of 1:00.50. She claimed her bronze medal in the 200 metre individual medley event, breaking an African record of 2:12.72. Her three medals were the only medals won by Zimbabwe in the 2004 Summer Olympics, which was their second-highest medal count ever. Coventry also became the nation's first athlete in its history to claim an individual Olympic medal.