By Victor Kanayo
Kirsty Coventry has been elected as the 10th President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Coventry has now become the first African and first woman to hold this esteemed position as the world’s top sports administrator, after securing the highest number of votes among the seven contesting candidates.
The 41-year-old Zimbabwean was chosen in a secret ballot at the 144th IOC Session, held in Costa Navarino, Greece, on Thursday, March 20, for an eight-year term.
She will replace outgoing President Thomas Bach, who was first elected in 2013 and re-elected in 2021.
Takeover Period
Coventry will assume office after the handover from President Bach on Olympic Day, 23 June.
President Bach, who remains in the role until then, will also resign as an IOC member after the transfer of power and will assume the role of Honorary President.
The President-elect will oversee the Olympic Winter Games Milano-Cortina 2026 as her first Olympic Games, with under 11 months to go until the opening ceremony.
Coventry’s Profile
President-elect Coventry is currently an IOC member and the Minister of Sport, Arts & Recreation in Zimbabwe.
She has held the ministerial position since 2018. Additionally, she served as Vice President of the International Surfing Federation from 2017 to 2024.
The former swimmer was first elected as an IOC member through the IOC Athletes’ Commission in 2013, serving in that role until 2021, when she was elected as an individual member.
In 2018, she was elected Chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, becoming a member of the IOC Executive Board in the process. She also served as the IOC Athlete Representative on the World Anti-Doping Agency from 2012 to 2021 and was a member of WADA’s Athlete Committee from 2014 to 2021.
A Harare native, President-elect Coventry competed at five different Olympic Games. Between her debut at Sydney 2000 and her final appearance at Rio 2016, she won seven Olympic medals (two gold, four silver, one bronze), taking gold in the 200m backstroke at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. 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.
