Kirsty Coventry was elected to the new president of the International Olympic Committee on Thursday.
Coventry, 41, becomes the first woman and the first African named president of the IOC.
“It’s a signal that we’re really global,” Coventry said of his choice.
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Kirsty Coventry responds after she was announced as the new IOC president at the International Olympic Committee’s 144 Session in Costa Navarino, Greece, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Coventry, a two-time Olympic swimming gold medal, won in the first voting round among seven candidates voted on 97 IOC members. Coventry gets an eight-year mandate that runs through 2033.
The voters of the exclusive invited club of IOC members include royal family members, former legislators and diplomats, business leaders, sports officials and Olympic athletes.
It was not expected that a candidate would be selected in the first round. Several rounds were predicted. Coventry received the exact majority of 49 necessary votes.
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Kirsty Coventry laughs during a press conference after she was elected to the new IOC president at the International Olympic Committee’s 144. Session in Costa Navarino, Greece, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Others in the race were four presidents of sports government agencies: Track and Field’s Sebastian Coe, Skiings Johan Eliasch, Cycling’s David Lappartient and Gymnastics’ Morinari Watanabe. The conflicting was also Prince Feisal Al Hussein from Jordan.
“I will make you all very, very proud and hopefully extremely sure of the decision you have made,” Coventry said in his acceptance speech. “Now we’ve got some work together.”
Coventry was Zimbabwe’s sports minister, and the trooping IOC President Thomas Bach had advocated for her to be his successor.
IOC President Thomas Bach holds the name Kirsty Coventry as she is announced as the new IOC president at the International Olympic Committee’s 144. Session in Costa Navarino, Greece, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Coventry will formally replace his mentor Bach by a transfer 23 June, which is Olympic Day, as the 10th IOC president in his 131-year history. Bach reached the maximum 12 years in office.
Coventry won back-to-back titles in the 200-meter backstroke at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and in Beijing four years later. She joined the IOC in 2013, almost a year after a disputed athlete election at the London Olympics.
