ZIMBABWE’S swimming icon Kirsty Coventry will move a gear up in her preparations for this year’s London Olympic Games when she takes part in the UltraSwim meet in Charlotte, United States, from May 10-13.

According to reports from Charlotte, Coventry (28) will lead a strong field of international Olympians who will take on some of the United States’ Olympic Games-bound swimmers during the four-day meet.

In fact, 14 of the international Olympians have already committed themselves to competing in this event and they include previous medalists such as Zimbabwe’s Coventry and France’s Frederick Bousquet.

Charlotte’s UltraSwim meet traditionally has hosted a strong field of swimmers ever since it began in 1985 and it is usually used by some of the United States and the world’s top swimmers to fine-tune themselves for major international events such as the Olympic Games.

But this year’s field for the May 10-13 event at the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Centre could be the best in its history. We should have about 90 percent of the swimmers who ultimately make the US Olympic team,” said Jeff Gaeckel, one of the event organisers, was quoted as saying from Charlotte yesterday.

Headlining the field once again will be Michael Phelps, the 14-time gold medalist.

If Phelps follows through with his plan to retire after the 2012 Olympics in London, this likely will be the last time he will swim competitively in Charlotte.

Phelps generally swims in three to five events at the UltraSwim. Phelps undoubtedly will give a boost to the event’s attendance, as he has for the past several years.

But he will be far from the only Olympian coming — 20 more US swimmers who have competed in Olympics for their country also have committed.

Among those are previous Olympic gold medalists like Ryan Lochte, Natalie Coughlin, Rebecca Soni, Ricky Berens (who grew up in Charlotte) and Cullen Jones (who went to North Carolina State and has trained for SwimMAC Carolina’s Team Elite in Charlotte for four years). But it is the presence of Zimbabwe’s swimming sensation Coventry that is expected to bring more excitement to this year’s UltraSwim meet.

Coventry recently returned to her former base in the United States — Austin in Texas — where she reunited with Kim Brackin, the American coach who helped her win seven Olympic Games medals.

In fact, Coventry made her return to competitive swimming as a Longhorn with a victory in the women’s 400m freestyle when she clocked a 4:18.20 during the USA Swimming Sectionals at College Station in Texas at the beginning of this month.

She also won the women’s 400m individual medley at the same meet with a good time of 4:42.84.

Coventry is now expected to compete in the UltraSwim meet from May 10-13 in Charlotte as she continues with her preparations for the 2012 London Olympic Games which are set to run from July 27 to August 12.

The talented Zimbabwean swimmer will be making her fourth straight appearance at the Olympic Games.

Coventry made her first appearance at the world’s biggest sporting showcase in 2000 in Sydney, Australia, and she followed this up by representing Zimbabwe at the next two Olympics in Athens, Greece (2004) and Beijing, China (2008). It was at the Athens Games where Coventry won the hearts of many Zimbabwean sport followers after she walked away with a full set of medals — one gold, one silver and one bronze. And Coventry showed that her remarkable performances at the Athens Games were no fluke when she fished out four more medals — one gold and three silvers — at the Beijing Games in China four years later.