Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry has made history by becoming the first woman and first African president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in its 130-year existence, shattering two significant barriers at once.
The Zimbabwean swimming legend secured the top job in world sport on Thursday after winning a decisive victory in the race to replace Thomas Bach, ushering in what many see as a transformative era for the Olympic movement.
Coventry needed only one round of voting to clinch the presidency, winning an immediate overall majority in the secret ballot with 49 of the available 97 votes.
“This is not just a huge honour, but it is a reminder of my commitment to every single one of you that I will lead this organisation with so much pride,” a beaming Coventry told her fellow IOC members at the luxury seaside resort in Greece’s southwestern Peloponnese that hosted the IOC Session.
She beat out second-placed Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, with the Spaniard winning 28 votes. Britain’s Sebastian Coe, considered one of the frontrunners in the days leading up to the vote, came third with eight votes.
The remaining votes went to Frenchman David Lappartient, Jordan’s Prince Feisal Al Hussein, Swedish-born Johan Eliasch, and Japan’s Morinari Watanabe.
“I will make all of you very, very proud, and hopefully extremely confident with the choice you’ve taken today, thank you from the bottom of my heart,” she added.
Reflecting on the significance of her election, Coventry said: “It’s a really powerful signal. It’s a signal that we’re truly global and that we have evolved into an organisation that is truly open to diversity and we’re going to continue.”
Speaking about her immediate plans, Coventry emphasised collaboration: “I’m going to sit down with President Bach. We’re going to have a few months for a handover takeover. And what I want to focus on is bringing all the candidates together. There were so many good ideas and exchanges over the last six months.”
“Look at the IOC and our Olympic movement and family and decide how exactly we’re going to move forward in the future. What is it that we want to focus on in the first six months? I have some ideas, but a part of my campaign was listening to the IOC members and hearing what they have to say and hearing how we want to move together.”
The IOC presidential election takes place every eight years, with members voting by secret ballot. The president serves an initial eight-year term with the possibility of a four-year extension. Since its founding in 1894, the IOC has had only nine presidents prior to Coventry, all of them men and predominantly from Europe. Bach, a German lawyer and former Olympic fencing champion, had served as president since 2013.
