Kirsty Coventry elected as International Olympic Committee’s first female president

COSTA NAVARINO, Greece – Two decades after winning her first Olympic gold in Greece, Kirsty Coventry was victorious again in the Mediterranean country as she was elected as the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) first female president on March 20.

The 41-year-old Zimbabwean, a former swimmer who won the women’s 200m backstroke at Athens 2004 before retaining the title at Beijing 2008, also becomes the IOC’s first African president. She is also the youngest elected to the most powerful position in sports governance.

Coventry, who also has four Olympic silvers and a bronze, will serve an eight-year term, with the possibility of a four-year extension.

“This is an extraordinary moment. As a nine-year-old girl I never thought that I would be standing up here one day, getting to give back to this incredible movement of ours,” Coventry said.

“This is not just a huge honour, but it is a reminder to every single one of you that I will lead this organisation with so much pride, with the values at the core and I will make all of you very, very proud and, I hope, extremely confident in the decision you’ve taken today.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Coventry succeeds 71-year-old German Thomas Bach, who steps down after a 12-year reign and has been named honorary president for life.

Strongly believed to be Bach’s favoured candidate, Coventry was thought to be in a tight race with IOC veteran Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr of Spain and World Athletics’ British chief Sebastian Coe.

However, to general surprise, the secret voting at a luxury seaside resort in Greece’s south-western Peloponnese reached its conclusion after just one round, with a majority of the IOC members placing their faith in Coventry to meet the serious challenges that lie ahead.

She secured 49 votes, the majority required from the 97 possible votes, with zero abstentions. Samaranch Jr and Coe had 28 and eight votes respectively, while Frenchman David Lappartient (four), Japan’s Morinari Watanabe (four), Jordan’s Prince Feisal Al Hussein (two) and Swedish-born Johan Eliasch (two) completed the field.

Coventry has proved to be an effective networker since becoming an IOC member in 2013 and is head of the 2032 Brisbane Games co-ordination commission – a sign of the confidence the hierarchy has in her administrative and organisational abilities.

Coventry, who had the Olympic rings tattooed on a leg after her first Games in 2000, has accrued domestic political experience, as she has been Zimbabwe’s Minister for Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation since 2018.

That was thought to be her Achilles’ heel as she was serving in a government whose election in 2023 – she was re-appointed to her ministerial role – was declared to be “neither free nor fair”.

Coventry defended herself when the subject was broached during her low-key media campaign – unlike other candidates, she did not employ heavyweight PR agencies but relied on her husband and father of her two children, Tyrone Seward.

“I have learnt so many things from stepping into this ministry role. But I have taken it upon myself to change a lot of policies within my country and how things are done,” she said in January.

Coventry will take over a financially secure IOC, but those calm waters are muddied by a febrile geopolitical situation. She will have to deal with United States President Donald Trump as Los Angeles hosts the next Summer Olympics in 2028.

Samaranch Jr had argued that in this “very complex world”, where previously undisputed truths such as “universality, fraternity and unity” are now questioned, it was no time to take a leap in the dark.

The 65-year-old Spaniard, an assured and polished performer with over two decades as an IOC member, argued he would provide the steady hand at the tiller that is required. But IOC members chose a new face.

Coe appeared to be seen by Bach as the disruptor candidate, which is perhaps surprising given many would view him as an establishment figure.

His low score will be a bitter blow to the two-time 1,500 metres Olympic champion who is accustomed to success.

Coe, 68, became a lawmaker for the centre-right Conservatives and led London’s successful bid to host the 2012 Games.

He then oversaw the highly-praised hosting of those Olympics and has been credited with reforming track and field’s global body since becoming president in 2015.

Coe argued the IOC needs to do more “to create true and genuine commercial partners out of our athletes”.

One of the major problems the new president will face will be the return to the Olympic fold of Russia. In Paris in 2024, their athletes were forced to compete under a neutral banner, owing to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

“We hope obviously the principle ‘sport outside of politics’ will carry the day. We hope the IOC will improve the situation regarding that,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on March 20.
REUTERS, AFP, XINHUA