Kirsty Coventry Makes History, The First Woman To Become President Of The IOC

Kirsty Coventry replaces Thomas Bach as IOC President (Instagram/@olympic).

JAKARTA Kirsty Coventry has made history as well as the first African to be elected as President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Coventry was chosen to replace Thomas Bach who resigned after 12 years in office at an IOC General Assembly which took place on Thursday, March 20, 2025 yesterday.

The 41-year-old woman and gold medalist in swimming at the Zimbabwean Olympics will be one of the most powerful people in the world of sport with her new position.

"This is a great moment. As a nine-year-old girl, I never thought that I would be standing here one day, and could contribute to this extraordinary movement," Coventry was quoted as saying by French24.

Conventry won a shock victory in the first round in a seven-candidate contest. He secured 49 of the 97 votes available to beat Juan Antonio Samaranch Junior (28 votes) and Sebastian Coe (8 votes).

Coventry became the youngest president since Pierre de Coubertin. The French man founded the IOC in 1894 and took over the presidency two years later at the age of 33.

"This is not only a great honor, but also a reminder to all of you that I will lead this organization with great pride, with the values in it," he said.

Coventry, which is strongly believed to be Bach's favorite candidate, is considered to be in a tough competition with IOC veteran Juan Antonio Samaranch Junior and International Athlete President Sebastian Coe.

This is the most open and difficult-to-predict IOC presidential election in recent decades. The reason is that there are no clear leading candidates before the vote takes place.