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Prosport News

24 February 2010 - World class Olympian joins the players academy team

Olympic gold Medallist and World Backstoke Champion, Kirsty Coventry, has relocated to South Africa to train and work in Pretoria. Kirsty will be based at the Players Academy in Irene, Pretoria. Originally from Zimbabwe, she has been based in the States for the past eight years. Coventry was originally at Auburn University for five years and then moved to Austin when her coach Kim Brackin got the head coaching job in 2006.

Coventry commented,” I am very excited to be back in Africa again and am looking forward to giving back into the sport as much as it’s given me. After eight years in Texas, training at the University of Austin, I feel I have a lot of knowledge and information to share with other swimmers and am excited to part of the set-up at the Players Academy. I am still following a weekly programme from my coach and am still very focused on continuing to swim competitively but feel that I need to also look at business opportunities that will allow me to follow my passion in life.”

Coventry will join the highly experienced team of Graham Hill, Ryk Neethling, Nenad Milos, Cameron van den Bergh, George du Rand and Lyndon Ferns amongst others to coach at the Players Academy and will be part of this team that aims to create an environment to encourage the full development of swimmers in the era of professional sport. Players Academy currently is the training facility used by the following swimmers – George du Rand; Lyndon Ferns; Cameron van den Bergh and Chanelle van Wyk.

Neethling said,” We are delighted to have Kirsty training and coaching with us at the Academy. She has been an exceptional athlete and works extremely hard to achieve her goals. She will assist us in creating a thoroughally professional and competitive environment for the swimmers who train here. We now have a host of world class swimmers training together and this can only assist them in becoming better and faster. Apart from the impact she will have at the highest level she will be a wonderful role model for the junior swimmers we have coming through the system.”

Kirsty Coventry has two gold, four silver and one bronze Olympic medal as well as numerous Commonwealth Games, All Africa and World Championship medals. She is the current world record holder in 200m Backstroke in a time of 2:04:81.

For more information on the Players Academy visit www.playersacademies.com