France, March 19 -- Seven-time Olympic medallist Kirsty Coventry vowed to use the memories of her trials and tribulations as an aspiring athlete in Zimbabwe to improve the lot of up-and-coming youngsters if she were to be elected as the next president of the International Olympic Committee. (IOC).

Coventry's parents scrimped and saved to raise money, including selling cakes and hamburgers in the local community at weekends, to assist her training.

The Olympic Solidarity Scholarship stepped in to support the fledgling star. "That scholarship was hugely instrumental in just taking a bit of pressure off my family," Coventry recalled

"It gave me a little bit of income where I could travel to meetings and compete during the summertime when ...