Kirsty Coventry, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and Zimbabwe’s sports minister, has been elected the first female and first African president of the International Olympic Committee.

She won in the first round of voting at the 144th IOC Session in Greece, securing 49 votes, ahead of Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. (28 votes) and Lord Sebastian Coe (8 votes). A candidate needed 49 votes to win.

Here are the full results of the vote:

• Valid votes cast: 97
• Kirsty Coventry: 49
• Juan Antonio Samaranch: 28
• Sebastian Coe: 8
• David Lappartient: 4
• Morinari Watanabe: 4
• Prince Feisal Al Hussein: 2
• Johan Eliasch: 2

Coventry’s election marks a major shift, as all previous nine IOC presidents were men from Europe or the U.S.

Coventry will take over on June 24th.

Who is Kirsty Coventry?

– A five-time Olympian, she won seven of Zimbabwe’s eight Olympic medals (2 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze) in swimming across Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.

– An IOC member since 2013, she first served on the Athletes' Commission before rising through the ranks.

– Sports minister of Zimbabwe since 2018 and a strong advocate for youth and sports development.

– She was reportedly Thomas Bach’s preferred pick to succeed him as IOC president. Bach denies it but those involved say he was lobbying hard for her. Bach served 12 years and leaves behind a financially strong IOC on track to earn $8 billion from LA 2028.

What Comes Next?

– Coventry will oversee the staging of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles and will have to navigate potential tensions with U.S. politics – particularly with Donald Trump’s policies on sports and gender. Part of that will be reviewing and handling transgender athlete eligibility at the Games. Coventry seems to support a collaborative approach and has urged the IOC to bring all federations together to create a consistent and fair framework.

– One of her first major responsibilities will be determining the host city for the 2036 Summer Olympics.

What Does This Mean For World Athletics President Seb Coe?

In January, Coe pitched to IOC members in Lausanne and said that his last few years had been “training for the best part of my life.” Coe campaigned hard for the IOC presidency and secured endorsements from high-profile athletes like Usain Bolt and Moh Farah. However, the public is not the electorate and the IOC members went with Coventry. His career as an athlete is highly respected as a two-time Olympic gold medalist at 1500m and then came into his own as a leader with the bid and organization of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. He’s done good work as president of World Athletics since 2015. He was re-elected as World Athletics president in 2023 for a third and final term, which means he will be done at the end of 2027.

However, he was seen as a bit of an outsider to those within the IOC and they were not as receptive to the changes and reform he was proposing or his aggressive stance in protecting the female category, which he’s spoken about involves the participation of transgender athletes and athletes with differences in sex development (DSD). For someone who wanted it so badly and is accustomed to winning, it was a distant third place finish in this race.

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