IOC Elects Kirsty Coventry as First-Ever Female President
IOC Elects Kirsty Coventry as First-Ever Female President
Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe was elected on Thursday as the 10th President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the first female President in IOC history, following 1 round of voting at the 144th IOC Session in Costa Navarino, Greece.
Coventry is Zimbabwe’s sports minister, as well as Africa’s most decorated Olympian. She won gold in the 200m backstroke at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics – taking home seven medals across those games.
She was chosen over fellow presidential candidates HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein, David Lappartient, Johan Eliasch, Juan Antonio Samaranch, Lord Sebastian Coe and Morinari Watanabe.
“I am particularly proud to be the first female IOC President, and also the first from Africa. I hope that this vote will be an inspiration to many people. Glass ceilings have been shattered today, and I am fully aware of my responsibilities as a role model,” she said.
Kirsty Coventry delivers her acceptance speech after being elected as the 10th President of the International Olympic Committee, and the first female President in IOC history. pic.twitter.com/3BXf9kK0dI
— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) March 20, 2025
Coventry’s first games in charge will be the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina in 2026, followed by the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
Kirsty Coventry will succeed the ninth IOC President, Thomas Bach, whose 12-year tenure will officially end after Monday 23 June 2025. The President is elected by the IOC Members by secret ballot for a term of eight years.
The opening ceremony of the IOC session took place at the International Olympic Academy, adjacent to the ancient ruins where the Games began nearly 3,000 years ago. Following the opening ceremony, the main proceedings took place at Costa Navarino, a coastal resort in southwestern Greece.
Coventry succeeds Bach at the IOC helm
Outgoing President Bach was named honorary president for life on Wednesday issuing a call for global peace and for respect to the Olympic ideal.
“The Greeks and the Greek civilization have given humanity two things that we are grateful of: Democracy and the Olympic Games,” he said.
Bach, a German lawyer and former Olympic fencing champion, took over in 2013 and immediately introduced wide-ranging reforms both in relation to the Olympic Games and the IOC itself, including reducing the size and cost of the Games to make them more attractive to future host cities.
Greece proposes Ancient Olympia becomes permanent venue for the election of all IOC presidents
Meanwhile, Greece proposed that the birthplace of the Ancient Olympics become the permanent venue for the election of all IOC presidents in the future.
Less than a week after his inauguration as the new president of the Hellenic Republic, Konstantinos Tasoulas formally opened the IOC session and proposed that the election of the new president of the IOC takes place in Ancient Olympia.