Zimbabwe’s Coventry Elected First African IOC President
Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry was elected as the President of the International Olympic Committee on Thursday, becoming the first woman, and African, to hold the prestigious office.
Twenty years after winning her first Olympic Gold medal, she has been handed the task to lead the IOC for the next eight years with the possibility of a four-year extension.
The former Swimmer won the women’s 200m backstroke at Athens 2004 before retaining it at Beijing 2008, becoming the IOC’s first African president.
She enjoyed a glittering career for Zimbabwe in her active days, winning seven of the country’s eight Olympic medals to date.
No other African athlete has won more Olympic medals.
She also won three long-course World Championship gold medals and four short-course titles during her career, in addition to a Commonwealth Games gold and 14 African Games golds.
Coventry succeeds 71-year-old German Thomas Bach, who steps down after a 12-year reign, and has been named honorary president.
She fought off competition from Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr of Spain and World Athletics’ British chief Sebastian Coe, while securing 49 votes, the majority required from the 97 possible votes, with zero abstentions.
Samaranch Jr and Coe had 28 and eight votes respectively, while David Lappartient (four), Japan’s Morinari Watanabe (four), Jordan’s Prince Feisal Al-Hussein (two) and Swedish-born Johan Eliasch (two) completed the field.
Coventry, who won two Olympic gold, four Olympic silvers and a bronze, described her victory as an extraordinary moment.
She said: “This is an extraordinary moment. As a nine-year-old girl I never thought that I would stand up here one day, getting to give back to this incredible movement of ours.
“This is not just a huge honour but it is a reminder to every single one of you that I will lead this organisation with so much pride, with the values at the core and I will make all of you very, very proud and, I hope, extremely confident in the decision you’ve made today.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Coventry is the 10th President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), she is also the youngest-ever to hold the position at the age of 41.
She will officially take up the role on June 24, after incumbent Thomas Bach steps down following a 12-year spell in charge.
The former swimmer was first elected as an IOC Member as a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission in 2013 and served in that role until 2021, when she was elected as an individual member.
Zimbabwe’s Coventry Elected First African IOC President is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
