Kirsty Coventry elected as IOC President

Kirsty Coventry elected as IOC President

by Philip Barker

Kirsty Coventry has been elected as International Olympic Committee (IOC) President after only one round of voting at the Session at Costa Navarino.

49 votes in the first round proved decisive for Coventry. Juan Antonio Samaranch received 28, then Lord Coe with 8. Morinari Watanabe and David Lappartient both 4 and two votes apiece for Johan Eliasch and Prince Feisal al Hussein.

She is the first woman and the first from Africa to hold the post and at 41, she is the second youngest IOC President. Only Baron Pierre de Coubertin himself took on the role at a younger age.

Coventry is the first double Olympic champion to hold the position. “The young girl who first started swimming in Zimbabwe all those years ago could never have dreamt of this moment.” Coventry said. “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.”

IOC President Thomas Bach did not vote in the election but is believed to have been enthusiastic about Coventry’s candidacy.

“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.”

Coventry is Zimbabwe’s only Olympic gold medallist in an individual event. She was born in 1983, three years after the women’s hockey team won Zimbabwe’s only other Olympic gold.

She is initially to serve for eight years as IOC President and will have  a new Vice President, Pierre Olivier Beckers-Vieujant, who was elected unopposed. Beckers-Vieujant had been head of the Coordination Commission for the Paris 2024 Games.

They will inherit an Executive Board in which Athletes’ Commission head Emma Terho was returned for a second term.

Octaviu Morariu (GRE) was also elected to the EB along with Spyros Capralos of Greece, appropriately elected during a home IOC Session

Earlier in the afternoon, former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon had been inducted as an IOC Honour Member, a distinction also accorded to Italy’s Franco Ritti Bitti, former President of the International Tennis Federation and head of the Association of Summer Olympic Sports.

Honorary Membership had also been conferred on Marisol Casado (ESP) and Yu Zaiqing.(CHN).

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