Zimbabwe has won four Olympic medals in Beijing, a gold and three silver - and all of them (including a couple of world record times) have been delivered by one athlete: swimmer Kirsty Conventry.

Coventry won Zimbabwe's first swimming Olympic medals in Athens in 2004 - a gold a silver and a bronze - accounting for the nation's total winnings, prompting the people of Zimbabwe to dub her a "national treasure." This time around, she's continued her trend, adding a medal and ditching bronze for silver.

Hopefully Kirsty's performance can give Zimbabweans a taste of optimism and civic pride in the face of the country's economic woes and recent political turmoil.

Zimbabwe currently leads the medal tally for African nations at the Beijing Olympics with four medals but with track and field events started, expect some changes: Ethiopia has three medals so far (two gold and a silver in track and field events), Kenya also has three medals (two silver and a bronze, also in track and field), Algeria has two (both in Judo) while Cameroon and Togo both have one each (a gold in track and field and a bronze in canoe/kayak, respectively).