African Sports Monthly International Women's Day Special Edition | Page 40

Mary Onyali, Athletics - Nigeria

Mary Onyali (on extreme Right) celebrating with teammates in her
hey days

Before there was Blessing Okagbare there
was Mary Onyali who was a household
name not just in Nigeria but around the
world. A Graduate of Texas Southern
University in the USA, Mary was the
quintessential sprinter who held the
Nigerian and African flag high at
international events in the 1990’s. She is
the African Women’s 200 meters record
holder at 22.07 seconds which has stood
for 20 years and is still unbroken. She is
an entrepreneur these days and is said to
be working closely with sports authorities
in Nigeria to elevate the profile of sports
as it once was in the 1980’s and 90’s

Kirsty Coventry, Swimming - Zimbabwe
The Zimbabwean swimmer and former world
record holder attended and swam competitively for
Auburn University in Alabama, in the US. At the
2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece,
Coventry won three Olympic medals: a gold, a
silver, and a bronze, and she would go on to add to
her tally of medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics
in Beijing she won four more medals: a gold and
three silver. She was subsequently described by
Paul Chingoka, head of the Zimbabwe Olympic
Committee, as "our national treasure".
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has called
her "a golden girl," and awarded her US$100,000
in cash for her 2008 Olympic performance.