First woman at the top
Swimming legend is the new IOC President
Updated on March 20, 2025 – 5:09 p.m.Reading time: 3 min.
In a Greek luxury resort, 109 IOC members voted on a new presidency. Now the decision has been made.
Kirsty Coventry is the first president of the International Olympic Committee. The 41-year-old two-time swimming Olympic champion from Zimbabwe received the absolute majority of the votes on Thursday at the 144th IOC General Assembly in the Greek Costa Navarino.
Seven members of the ring organization had applied for the successor of Thomas Bach, who left office on June 23 after twelve years. Previously, nine men had led the IOC, everyone came from Europe or America.
This regulates the successor of the German Bach. This leaves the top after twelve years. According to the rules of the Olympic Charter, the 71-year-old could not get any further term. The Lower Franconian had risen to the IOC boss in 2013, and was re-elected in 2021. There is nothing more like the current set of rules.
Coventry prevailed against six male competitors. The British Athletics World Association chief Sebastian Coe (68) and the Spaniard Juan Antonio Samaranch jr. (65), son of a former IOC president. Surprisingly, Coventry was determined as the new president after the first ballot. Coventry’s term of office begins on June 24th.
“This is an extraordinary moment. As a nine-year-old girl, I never thought that one day I would be here,” said Coventry and always thanked the IOC members: “This is not only a great honor, but also a memory of my commitment to each individual. I will make you all proud. Now we have made a lot of work ahead of us.”
In the end of closed doors, Coventry received the necessary absolute majority of the voices. The Minister of Sports by Zimbabwe was acted in advance as a Bach’s desired candidate. It is expected that it will largely continue the sports policy lines of the Lower Franconia. “We are different people with different styles,” said Coventry before your choice.
The mother of two promises more openness and wants to involve the IOC members more than this has been under Bach in recent years. “Women are ready. I see this as an opportunity to tear down barriers,” Coventry said about her application.
As a swimmer, she won two gold medals at Olympics, took part in five summer games between Sydney 2000 and Rio in 2016. In 2013 she initially moved to the IOC as an athlete representative, in 2018 also to the Executive Committee, where the relevant decisions were made under Bach.
The German Olympic Sports Association immediately came to the first congratulations. “She knows what a successful future of the Olympic sport is needed. As an active member of the Olympic movement, the DOSB will continue to actively work for the spread of the Olympic values in Germany and the worldwide sports development. We are therefore looking forward to the cooperation,” said DOSB President Thomas Weikert.
Bach had recently oracelted for Coventry than he himself at the beginning of his term. The highly tense global political situation and the grown distrust of large institutions should not pass without a trace at the IOC.
Dealing with Vladimir Putin’s Russia remains a sensitive topic. Donald Trump’s return to the White House gives the IOC an unpredictable Olympic host for the summer games 2028 in Los Angeles. The effects of climate change on the sports world, the opportunities and risks of artificial intelligence and the search for new sources of money should also be difficult for the rings circle.