PHOENIX, Arizona, July 18. KIRSTY Coventry joins today's edition of The Morning Swim Show on the eve of attending her fourth Olympic Games.
Coventry, the reigning Olympic champion in the 200 backstroke and world record holder, talks about the years since winning Olympic gold and how she has reset her outlook on competition since the 2009 world championships. With the landscape of women's swimming changing greatly since Beijing, Coventry will face tough competition as she sets up to become the third person to win the same individual event at the Olympics three times. Be sure to visit SwimmingWorld.TV for more video interviews.
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Jeff Commings: This is The Morning Swim Show for Wednesday, July 18th 2012. I'm your host Jeff Commings. In the FINIS monitor today we'll talk to Kirsty Coventry, who is trying to join that elite group of swimmers who have won the same individual event at the Olympics three times. Kirsty joins us right now from her hotel in Tunis, Tunisia. Kirsty welcome to the show. How are you doing today?
Kirsty Coventry: Hi, I'm good, thank you, thank you for having me.
Jeff Commings: So tell us what you're doing there in Tunisia.
Kirsty Coventry: Well we just figured it would be a great opportunity for me to be based somewhere in Africa for my pre-training camp before we go into London and Tunis just kind of came along as a good idea and in the past I've become friends with Ous Mellouli, and we asked him what the pools and conditions and things were like here and he put us in touch with his federation and things worked out really well and here we are.
Jeff Commings: That's really nice. And speaking of being in Tunisia you've been racking up the frequent flyer miles a lot these past few years. Every time we check in on what Kirsty Coventry is up to you seem to be in a different city not just for competition but for training. Tell us where you've been around the world and why you decided to go there.
Kirsty Coventry: Well we've been all over the place. After World Championships in 2009 I took a year off and moved to Johannesburg, South Africa, and spent some time there with family and friends and then after a year I got back into training and started having a lot more fun again with my swimming and went from training in South Africa to doing a bit of training in Europe and then back to Texas with Kim, my old coach, and then we had four months of good training in Austin and now we're here getting ready for London and things are going good.
Jeff Commings: Now when you took that year off after World Championships was that kind of thinking you were going to leave the sport or were you just taking a break knowing you were still going to go to 2012?
Kirsty Coventry: Honestly I didn't really know. I just wanted some time out, I didn't have the best me. I had the great me if you look at it in regards to my 200 backstroke but I wasn't too happy with my other events in 2008 and everything had become so much about the suits, not so much about the athletes, and there was a lot of controversy. And so I just wanted to take a step back and have time out and be somewhat normal and get to spend time with my friends and family which I did and I loved it and met a great person who's in my life and travels with me and has joined me on this adventure which is super cool. And yes, like I said I took that year off and loved being normal and hanging out with friends and family and then started working out. I kept active, I stayed in the gym and ran a little bit, and then one day got back into the pool and starting messing around with time a little bit and it just kind of progressed from there and I just really missed the sport and wanted to give it one more shot and see what I can do and see how I could push my body.
Jeff Commings: And you're talking about that you have rediscovered your love of the sport, having more fun in it. What was the key to rediscovering that?
Kirsty Coventry: I think definitely taking that year away and just realizing what exactly is important. I think when you're young and you're a young athlete and I've been very fortunate in my career to be successful and very blessed for that but in the moment it's all about trying to win and trying to be the best and I don't think I ever really took everything in so that year was really nice to just take some time out to realize how I had done and I'm very proud of myself for achieving those things but I also was looking for other things in life and I think I found that and I'm just in a good place – I'm in a good space, I'm happy, and I know that I want to try and be as competitive as I can leading up to London and in London as well and I think my year away and taking that time off is going to help me to do that.
Jeff Commings: Now since 2009 World Championships where you set the current world record in the 200 backstroke the landscape of women's swimming has changed pretty considerably. What's your take on that?
Kirsty Coventry: I think it's awesome, I think women's swimming has consistently – every four years, if you look back in 2004 where we went from 2004 to 2008, from where we've gone from 2008 to 2012, it's just really awesome how much better women's swimming is getting and I think that's really exciting. I think that's exciting for the sport, I think it's exciting for us as athletes, and I'm just really — like I said earlier – I'm very excited to be part of that, we're making history and that's fun to do and fun to be a part of.
Jeff Commings: Now I would imagine people like Missy Franklin and others are really pushing you to really work a lot harder.
Kirsty Coventry: Yes, definitely. I think it's – a lot of people ask me which is harder, getting to the top or staying at the top, and it's definitely staying at the top is much harder than getting to the top because you've got certainly more people trying to knock you down. And I'm very realistic about my goals going into London and I just want to be as competitive as I can be and I know that there are a lot of great swimmers out there at the moment and if I can go in and be competitive and have fun and swim some of the fastest times in the world that would be great and we'll just see how it goes.
Jeff Commings: Now as I mentioned at the beginning of the show you're in line to potentially join a very elite group of swimmers who have won three consecutive gold medals in the same event in the Olympics, Kristina Egerszegi did it in the 200 back, Dawn Fraser did it in the 100 free, and you're in line to do that for the 200 back. Has that been a big motivator for you?
Kirsty Coventry: It has. I try not to think about it too much because I think that those types of things, especially that it's such a big deal and it would be such a great honor, but in that, in saying that, it also adds a lot more pressure. And I really want to – what that year away taught me to do is just to be able to slow down a little bit and take everything in so I really want to be able to go into the Olympics and take in everything I can of what's going on around me and how I'm swimming and how the other athletes are doing. While this will be my fourth Olympics and I think there might have been maybe three or four races that I've actually watched at the Olympics because you're so focused in on what you're doing and your goals so as exciting as that goal would be to achieve it is a hard goal and I'm just going to – it is in the back of my mind but I mean to just not really think about it too much to keep the pressure off.
Jeff Commings: I think that's a good way of looking at it. Now you'll be representing Zimbabwe at the Olympics, as you said it's your fourth Olympics, and I learned that you'll be carrying the flag for your country at the opening ceremonies and then I guess kind of also figuratively carrying the flag for your country especially in the pool. What does it mean for you to be such a big sports idol for your country?
Kirsty Coventry: I'm very blessed that I've had the support from the Zimbabwe community. I don't think a lot of athletes get to experience the same kind of love and kind of following that I've received from the Zimbabweans. They've treated me well, they've been so supportive over the last 12 years and it's just such an honor for me to be able to be the flag bearer at the opening ceremony. In the past I haven't been able to do it because I've always swam the 400IM on the first day and now that I'm not swimming that race it just made it very appropriate to be able to represent my country in that way and carry the flag. It's going to be pretty awesome.
Jeff Commings: Well it's kind of sad you're not doing the 400IM. I think we were all looking forward to that rematch with you and Stephanie Rice.
Kirsty Coventry: Yes, I'm a little bit sad too. It was in the cards and then I dislocated my kneecap end of March and it just took too long to kind of come back to full working mode in terms of the breaststroke and then in early May I got pneumonia and that was kind of the stamp of approval that I'm going to withdraw from that race. It's such a tough race and I do love racing the IMs and I would have loved to have gone back up there and try to be competitive but just with the things that have happened over the last four months and training that's required for that particular race it was time to kind of bow out of it. It will be fun to watch though.
Jeff Commings: Are you just sticking with the backstrokes then?
Kirsty Coventry: Yes, I'm going to do the 100 back and the 200 back and the 200 IM so I'll be doing the 200IM, but the 400IM, just what it takes to train for that race and do well unfortunately with the things that have happened I didn't feel comfortable doing that and I want to know that I'm going into the Olympics and I can give it my best and walk away happy with that.
Jeff Commings: Yes, that's very understandable. Going to back to representing Zimbabwe, after you won your medals in Beijing was there any kind of boost in the interest in swimming in Zimbabwe after the Olympics?
Kirsty Coventry: Yes, definitely. There's been a boost in swimming probably since 2004. It's really exciting when I go home and my mom teaches little kids how to swim from ages of four up to 12, 13 years old and she's just fully booked and we've got a bunch of swimming clubs and their youngsters have really had this huge kind of boost of people wanting to just to learn how to swim and then they've gotten more interested and they've joined clubs and so it's really exciting. We've got a little bit of a dip in our seniors at the moment, we're not very strong with our seniors and people that would be kind of following my footsteps I guess where – what's the word – we're just not very strong in that area but our juniors are really strong at the moment and that's very positive for our future especially in the swimming world.
Jeff Commings: Well that's really good to hear. Kirsty, thank you so much for joining us, we're really looking forward to seeing you back in the Olympics and best of luck to you not just with training but when you step up in London.
Kirsty Coventry: Cool. Thank you very much.
Jeff Commings: All right, it's our pleasure. Thanks Kirsty.
Kirsty Coventry: Bye.
Jeff Commings: All right, so that's Kirsty Coventry joining us on The Morning Swim Show today. We invite you to share your thoughts with us on any topic discussed on today's show. Just go to our Facebook page or talk to us on Twitter, our Twitter handle is @swimmingworld. That's going to do it for today's show, thanks for watching.
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