Kirsty Coventry elected first female president of International Olympic Committee

Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe, a seven-time Olympic swimming medallist, has been elected as the 10th President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the first female President in IOC history.

The IOC was founded in 1894 and did not have any female members until 1981. It took another decade before a woman was elected to the IOC Executive Board.

Coventry will also become the first person from Africa to serve as IOC president once her term starts in June. The previous nine presidents were men from Europe or the United States.

Coventry has been a prominent figure in Zimbabwean sports administration, having served as the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation since 2018.

She has been an IOC member since 2013, when she first joined the athletes’ commission. She retired from competition after her fifth Olympics in 2016.

Kim Brackin who coached Coventry at the Olympics in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 recalls Coventry telling her in 2016 that she wanted to be IOC president one day with Coventry saying “‘I want to help grow this organization and run it.”

At 41, Coventry will be the second-youngest IOC president after Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics. Coubertin began his 29-year term at age 33 in 1896, the year of the first modern Olympics in Athens, Greece. Prior to voting, Coventry's age was considered as making her the candidate most likely to be in tune with Generation Z.

The vote this week was expected to be tense, tight and protracted, however in the end turned out to be one-sided and extraordinarily brief. Following the first and only round of voting at the 144th IOC Session in Costa Navarino, Greece, Coventry received a majority 49 out of 97 votes with IOC members voting Coventry into the role’s eight-year term (renewable for an extra four years) on Thursday.

Coventry was chosen over fellow presidential candidates HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein, David Lappartient, Johan Eliasch, Juan Antonio Samaranch, Lord Sebastian Coe and Morinari Watanabe.

She will succeed the ninth IOC President, Thomas Bach, whose 12-year tenure will officially end after Monday 23rd June 2025. The President is elected by the IOC Members by secret ballot for a term of eight years.

Coventry is one of only three IOC Presidential candidates to be an IOC member in her own right. (Only IOC members are allowed to stand for the Presidency.) Four others - Sebastian Coe of Great Britain, David Lappartient of France, Johan Eliasch of Great Britain, and Morinari Watanabe of Japan - hold IOC membership as Presidents of respective international sports federations. Their IOC memberships are due to expire either when they reach the age of 70 or as soon as they no longer head their federations.

President-elect Coventry shared "I am incredibly honoured and excited to be elected as President of the International Olympic Committee. I want to sincerely thank my fellow members for their trust and support.

“The young girl who first started swimming in Zimbabwe all those years ago could never have dreamt of this moment.

“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.

“Sport has an unmatched power to unite, inspire and create opportunities for all, and I am committed to making sure we harness that power to its fullest. Together with the entire Olympic family, including our athletes, fans and sponsors, we will build on our strong foundations, embrace innovation, and champion the values of friendship, excellence and respect. The future of the Olympic Movement is bright, and I can't wait to get started."

After the election, IOC President Thomas Bach congratulated Coventry on her election as the 10th IOC President adding “I warmly welcome the decision of the IOC Members and look forward to strong cooperation, particularly during the transition period. There is no doubt that the future for our Olympic Movement is bright and that the values we stand for will continue to guide us through the years to come.”

On Wednesday, Bach, a 1976 Olympic fencing champion for Germany, was elected IOC Honorary President for Life and in a tearful address to IOC members shared “Some will say it was such difficult 12 years, and you have made sacrifice. I didn’t make a single sacrifice in these 12 years. I am grateful that after my career as an athlete, I could continue to live my passion for sport. And I’m grateful that you allowed me to give back to sport what I have received from the Olympic Movement. My gold medal has changed my life, and with this office as IOC president, I had the opportunity to help others to change a life, and this is why you see a very happy man.”

In Coventry’s eight-year term, the Olympic hosts will be Milan Cortina, Italy (2026), Los Angeles (2028), the French Alps (2030) and Brisbane, Australia (2032).

Prior to the vote, Coventry faced questions from the media in January. Asked about balancing being a parent and IOC President at the same time Coventry replied “I had to quickly learn how to navigate and be a woman with a career as well as a mum and a wife and everything else, and it can be done. I’m very lucky to come from Africa, because culturally we know and we firmly believe that it takes a village to raise a child, so I have incredible support that will continue in this leadership role.”

Coventry told The Athletic “female leaders do bring different attributes, lessons learned and soft skills to the table - but I don’t want it to be the only thing that people focus on. I want to be the best person that people and members see leading our organisation, not a choice just based on gender.”

Her agenda is focussed around the athlete and what the IOC can do to ensure the athlete thrives aiming to find more ways of “directly impacting and getting revenue to athletes before they become Olympians” adding that that is generally the toughest aspect for most athletes. Coventry shared “in my journey it was easy to get sponsorship once I’d won a medal. It was getting to that medal that was tough.”

Image. Credit: IOC