The International Olympic Committee has a woman at the top for the first time: Kirsty Coventry from Zimbabwe succeeds Thomas Bach in the presidential office.
Coventry surprisingly received the necessary votes in the first ballot at the IOC session in the Greek Costa Navarino in the Greek Costa Navarino. Bach personally announced the result at the 144th General Assembly.
The 41-year-old two-time swimming Olympic champion will take up the office on June 24 and thus replace Bach after twelve years. According to the IOC Charta, the first term is eight years (i.e. by 2033), after which there is the possibility to re-election for four more years (2037). In the history of the IOC, every president who stood for re -election was confirmed without a candidate.
Absolute majority decides
To win, an absolute majority of at least 50 percent among the IOC members needed it. With each ballot, the person with the worst result would have been excreted. Before the vote, alongside Coventry Sebastian Coe (Great Britain) and Juan Antonio Samaranch jr. (Spain) granted the best chances. The choice was secret.
Other applicants were David Lappartient (France), Prince Feisal Al-Hussein (Jordan), Johan Eliasch (Great Britain) and Morinari Watanabe (Japan). So far, the IOC has been led by nine men (since 1894), all came from Europe or the USA.
Bach has been IOC President since 2013
Bach was President of the IOC since 2013, at that time he was elected for eight years and re -elected for four years in 2021. According to a president of the Olympic Charter, a president must cede after twelve years. Bach had not ruled out for a long time to change them for another term, but then decided to end his term.