Kirsty Coventry Emerges First African, Woman to Head International Olympic Committee

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Zimbabwean Minister of Sports, Ms Kirsty Coventry, has been elected president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

She became the first woman and African to hold the position vacated by Mr Thomas Bach, who has been on the seat for the last 12 years.

The Zimbabwe sports minister and two-time Olympic swimming gold medalist got a stunning first-round win in the seven-candidate contest after voting by nearly 100 of her colleagues in the IOC membership on Thursday.

She gets an eight-year mandate into 2033.

According to reports, the election was the most open and hard-to-call IOC presidential election in decades with no clear front-runner before the vote.

She beat Mr Sebastian Coe, the UK’s two-time Olympic 1500m champion, who oversaw the London 2012 Games before taking charge of World Athletics as well as Spanish businessman Mr Juan Antonio Samaranch, who is currently the IOC’s vice-president; Sweden-born businessman and ski federation president Mr Johan Eliasch; Japan’s Mr Morinari Watanabe – head of the international gymnastics federation; French cycling chief Mr David Lappartient and Jordanian Prince Feisal al-Hussein.

Ms Coventry’s win also was a victory for outgoing IOC president Mr Bach, who has long been seen as promoting her as his successor.

He was also lauded for his role in sporting achievements including navigating the Olympics after the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent Paris 2024 Olympics.

“I will make all of you very, very proud and hopefully extremely confident in the decision you have taken,” Ms Coventry said in her acceptance speech.

Her first tournament in the role will be the Milano Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in February 2026, followed by the LA Summer Games in July 2028.

Ms Coventry’s IOC will also need to find a host for the 2036 Summer Games which is expected to be hosted in India or the Middle East.

She will be tasked towards navigating a lot of political and sporting issues necessitated by changing global trends.