Kirsty Coventry was elected by the new president of the International Olympic Committee.
Coventry, 41, becomes the first woman and first African president appointed president of the IOC.
“This is a signal that we are really global,” said Coventry about his election.
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Kirsty Coventry reacts after being announced as the new CIO president at the 144th session of the International Olympic Committee in Costa Navarino, Greece, Thursday, March 2025. (APTO Photo / Thanassis Stavrakis)
Coventry, a double native Olympic gold medalist, won the first voting round among seven candidates voted by 97 CIO members. Coventry obtained an eight -year term which takes place until 2033.
Voters of the exclusive guest club of IOC members include members of the royal family, former legislators and diplomats, business leaders, sports officials and Olympic athletes.
We did not expect a candidate to be elected in the first round. Several laps have been predicted. Coventry received the exact majority of 49 necessary votes.
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Kirsty Coventry laughs at a press conference after being elected president of the IOC at the 144th session of the International Olympic Committee in Costa Navarino, Greece, Thursday, March 2025. (APTO Photo / Thanassis Stavrakis)
Others in progress were four presidents of sports guidelines: Sebastian Coe of athletics, Johan Eliasch of Skiing, David Lappartient de Cycling and Morinari Watanabe of gymnastics. Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan was also faced.
“I will make you all very, very proud and, hopefully, extremely confident in the decision you made,” Coventry said in his acceptance speech. “Now we have work together.”
Coventry was the Sports Minister of Zimbabwe and the outgoing president of the CIO Thomas Bach had recommended that she was his successor.
The president of the IOC, Thomas Bach, takes the name of Kirsty Coventry when she was announced as the new president of the IOC during the 144th session of the International Olympic Committee in Costa Navarino, in Greece, Thursday, March 2025. (APTO Photo / Thanassis Stavrakis)
Coventry will officially replace its mentor Bach during a transfer on June 23, which is the Olympic day, as 10th president of the IOC in 131 years of history. Bach has reached the maximum of 12 years in power.
Coventry won consecutive titles in 200 meters against the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and in Beijing four years later. She joined the IOC in 2013, almost a year after an election challenged by athlete at the London Olympic Games.
