Kirsty Coventry elected first female president of International Olympic Committee
Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe has been elected the first female president of the International Olympic Committee, and the 10th president overall of the organization that was founded in 1894.
IOC members voted Coventry, a seven-time Olympic swimming medalist, into the role's eight-year term (renewable for an extra four years) on Thursday.
Coventry will also become the first person from Africa to serve as IOC President once her term starts June 24. The previous nine presidents were men from Europe or the U.S.
At 41, she 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.
Thursday's vote was held in Costa Navarino, Greece, about 60 miles south of Olympia, site of the Ancient Olympics.
The other candidates were fellow IOC members Prince Feisal Al Hussein, Sebastian Coe, Johan Eliasch, David Lappartient, Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. and Morinari Watanabe.
Coventry succeeds outgoing president Thomas Bach, who served the maximum 12 years in the role, leading the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Wednesday, Bach was elected IOC Honorary President for Life.
"Some will say it was such difficult 12 years, and you have made sacrifice," Bach, a 1976 Olympic fencing champion for Germany, said in a tearful address to IOC members Wednesday. "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).
Coventry was born in Harare, Zimbabwe, made her Olympic debut in 2000 a day after turning 17 and then matriculated at Auburn University.
She won the 200m backstroke at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics among seven total medals between those two Games. Zimbabwe's only other Olympic medal was the gold in women's field hockey in 1980.
Coventry has been an IOC member since 2013, when she first joined the athletes’ commission. She retired from competition after her fifth Olympics in 2016.
Now she will be the first Olympic swimmer to serve as IOC president.
Yiannis Exarchos reflected on the 2024 Paris Games and looked ahead to the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.
Read more at Yahoo Sports
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Kirsty Coventry elected president of the International Olympic Committee
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Kirsty Coventry becomes first woman to lead International Olympic Committee
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Kirsty Coventry elected first woman president of Olympic movement
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Kirsty Coventry becomes first female president of International Olympic Committee
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