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Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry elected as 1st-ever female IOC president

41-year-old becomes 1st African to lead global Olympic body

Kirsty Coventry accepts congratulations after she was announced as the new IOC president on Thursday in Costa Navarino, western Greece. (Thanassis Stavrakis/The Associated Press)

Kirsty Coventry accepts congratulations after she was announced as the new IOC president on Thursday in Costa Navarino, western Greece. (Thanassis Stavrakis/The Associated Press)

Behind closed doors inside a resort in western Greece, International Olympic Committee members made history by electing the first female president of the world's largest sporting organization.

Kirsty Coventry will become the IOC's 10th president after members from across the world cast their secret vote and tabbed the 41-year-old on the first ballot.

Just after her mentor, outgoing president Thomas Bach, announced her name as the winner on Thursday, Coventry told the crowd it was a position she could have never imagined back in her home country of Zimbabwe at nine years old, when she set a goal to go to the Olympics.

She achieved that goal, competing in five different Olympic Games as an athlete, most recently in Rio in 2016. She earned seven medals in the pool, including two Olympic championships in the 200-metre backstroke.

Now, her ascension to the top post in the Olympics has come in the same country where Coventry won her first Olympic medal in Athens in 2004, in a full circle moment.

Coventry secured 49 out of a possible 97 votes. Her next closest competitor, IOC vice president Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., garnered 28 votes. World Athletics president Sebastian Coe, who was also considered a front-runner, got eight votes.

"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," said Coventry, who gets an eight-year mandate into 2033.

"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."

One female, one male members of the IOC.
Outgoing IOC President Thomas Bach, right, greets Coventry after she was announced his successor. Bach has held the top position since 2013. (Thanassis Stavrakis/The Associated Press)

Only one other woman — Anita DeFrantz in 2001 when Jacques Rogge was elected — has ever run for the top job within the IOC, which does not yet have gender parity among its members.

Coventry will formally replace Bach on June 23 — officially Olympic Day — as the 10th IOC president in its 131-year history. Bach reached the maximum 12 years in office.

'We have got some work together'

In addition to being the first female president, she will be the second youngest to lead the organization and the first from Africa. 

"I will make all of you very, very proud and hopefully extremely confident in the decision you have taken," Coventry said in her acceptance speech. "Now we have got some work together."

Coventry's win also was a victory for Bach, who has long been seen as promoting her as his successor. He did not use his right to vote, and when speaking to reporters in January, Coventry downplayed that Bach favoured her.

"Congratulations to Kirsty Coventry on her election as the 10th IOC president," Bach said. "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."

Also in the race were four presidents of sports governing bodies: Track and field's Coe, skiing's Johan Eliasch (two votes), cycling's David Lappartient (four votes), and gymnastics' Morinari Watanabe (four votes). Also contending was Prince Feisal al Hussein of Jordan (two votes).

"I think the athletes will be very confident that they have an athlete at the helm of the organization," Coe told reporters after the loss. "You can only focus on what is actually in front of you. That's the great thing about being an athlete. Competitions come and go. You win some, you lose some."

A man claps.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe finished third in the vote for a new International Olympic Committee president. (David Ramos/Getty Images)

Coventry's platform emphasized prioritizing athletes, improving digital engagement with the audience and improving transparency, with "zero tolerance for corruption, doping and unethical behaviour."

"We need to find more ways of directly impacting and getting revenue to athletes before they become Olympians," Coventry told reporters in January. That, she said, is often the toughest challenge for athletes to overcome.

"In my journey, it was easy to get sponsorship once I won a medal. It was getting to that medal that was tough."

Secret ballots and multiple front-runners

The day before the vote, Coventry kept her remarks to the press brief, appearing upbeat and energized.

She said she enjoyed the competition, and compared the last hours before the vote as the homestretch in a race in the pool, when adrenaline takes over — a feeling she knows well.

With three perceived front-runners among seven candidates, secret ballots over multiple rounds and only one opportunity for presidential hopefuls to formally address members — just 15 minutes each in Switzerland in January, and no ability to field questions from voters at that session — the outcome was hard to predict.

About 100 members voted from all across the globe. They ranged from current and former athletes to some royal family members, including King Frederik X of Denmark and Prince Albert II of Monaco. Only one vote was cast from Canada, by Canadian Olympic Committee president Tricia Smith.

She supported Coventry's campaign. 

"She's incredibly experienced," Smith said in an interview with CBC Sports after the vote. "She knows the Olympic movement inside and out. She lives the values of the Olympic movement."

She felt Coventry's values made her the best person for the job, but she also said Coventry should be relatable to youth, something the IOC needs as it tries to reach a younger, more plugged-in generation of sports fans.

Climate change, political instability on Coventry's plate

Key challenges for Coventry will be steering the Olympic movement through political and sporting issues toward the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, including engaging in diplomacy with U.S. President Donald Trump. 

"When it comes to the U.S.A. and L.A., I have been dealing with, let's say, difficult men in high positions since I was 20 years old," Coventry told reporters after the election. "First and foremost, what I have learned is that communication will be key. That is something that will happen early on."

But the IOC "will not waver from our values" in the process, she siad.

Trump has been outspoken about banning transgender women from competing in female categories of sport, signing an order to that effect in his country. The IOC doesn't have such a policy, leaving those decisions to international sporting federations.

Coventry said the IOC would set up a task force to review the issue, alongside the international sporting federations. Coventry said she wants the IOC to take "a bit more of a leading role" than it does now.

"My stance is that we will protect the female category and female athletes," she said.

We are going to bring everyone together, sit down and have a little bit more of unity in the discussion. 

Coventry's IOC will also need to find a host for the 2036 Summer Games which could go to India or the Middle East.

But the biggest challenge of all might be guiding the Olympics through climate change, which could threaten the future of both the Summer and Winter Games.

Author: Karissa Donkin

Source: CBC News:

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