Olympics – 144th IOC Session – Costa Navarino, Pylos, Greece – March 20, 2025 Kirsty Coventry through the press convention after she was elected as the brand new president of the Worldwide Olympic Committee. — Reuters
Kirsty Coventry smashed via the Worldwide Olympic Committee’s glass ceiling on Thursday to turn out to be the organisation’s first feminine and first African president in its 130-year historical past.
The Zimbabwean swimming nice, already a towering determine in Olympic circles, emerged victorious to exchange Thomas Bach, securing the highest job in world sport and ushering in a brand new period for the Video games.
“It’s a really powerful signal,” a smiling Coventry mentioned because the victory sank in. “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.”
Coventry wanted just one spherical of voting to clinch the race to succeed Bach, profitable a direct general majority within the secret poll with 49 of the obtainable 97 votes.
She beat Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. into second place, the Spaniard profitable 28 votes. Britain’s Sebastian Coe, thought of one of many entrance runners within the days main as much as the vote, got here a distant third with solely eight votes.
The remaining handful of votes went to Frenchman David Lappartient, Jordan’s Prince Feisal, Swedish-born Johan Eliasch, and Japan’s Morinari Watanabe.
“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 advised her fellow IOC members on the luxurious seaside resort in Greece’s southwestern Peloponnese which hosted the IOC Session.
“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.
Coventry mentioned she now needs to convey all of the candidates collectively.
“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.
“Take a look at the IOC and our Olympic motion and household and resolve how precisely we’ll transfer ahead sooner or later. What’s it that we need to give attention to within the first six months? I’ve some concepts, however part of my marketing campaign was listening to the IOC members and listening to what they should say and listening to how we need to transfer collectively.”
Show of unity
Coventry’s first-round landslide was a show of unity in the body, she said.
“It is extraordinarily necessary we’ve to be a united entrance and we’ve to work collectively. We do not and we would not at all times agree, however we’ve to have the ability to come collectively for the betterment of the motion.”
A seven-times Olympic medallist , Coventry won 200m backstroke gold at the 2004 Athens Games and again in Beijing four years later.
She was added to the IOC’s Athletes’ Commission in 2012, and her election to the top job signals a new era for the IOC, with expectations that she will bring a fresh perspective to pressing issues such as athlete rights, the gender debate and the sustainability of the Games.
A champion of sport development in Africa, Coventry has pledged to expand Olympic participation and ensure the Games remain relevant to younger generations.
She also inherits the complex task of navigating relations with global sports federations and sponsors while maintaining the IOC’s financial stability, which has relied heavily on its multibillion-dollar broadcasting and sponsorship deals.
As she takes the helm, the global sporting community will be watching closely to see how Coventry shapes the future of the world’s biggest multi-sport organisation.
While her election was broadly popular among the IOC family, there was disquiet in some quarters over her links with the Zimbabwean government, for whom she serves as Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts, and Recreation, a position that has raised eyebrows given Zimbabwe’s problematic history with political freedoms.
The country has faced sanctions from the United States and the European Union. Coventry’s longstanding recognition in Zimbabwe, where she was given a $100,000 award by the former President Robert Mugabe for her success at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, adds further complexity to the situation. Mugabe was in power for 37 years before being overthrown in a military-backed coup in 2017.
Although Coventry has attempted to separate herself from political affairs, her ministerial role and ties with Zimbabwe’s leadership continue to be contentious issues as she steps into the leadership of the world’s most powerful sports organisation.
On Thursday, though, she was all smiles.
Champion in Athens 2004, victorious again in Pylos — her golden touch in Greece shows no signs of fading.
“Greece appears to be my fortunate attraction,” she smiled.
