Zimbabwe's most decorated athlete Kirsty Coventry scripted history when she was elected president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday, March 20 and became the first woman and African to get perhaps the biggest job in world sports. (More Sports News)
“It is a signal that we are truly global,” the Zimbabwe sports minister and two-time Olympic swimming gold medalist said.
Coventry earned a stunning first-round win in the seven-candidate contest after voting by 97 IOC members.
She gets an eight-year mandate into 2033 aged just 41.
Coventry will formally replace the outgoing Thomas 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.
Who Is Kirsty Coventry?
Coventry was born on September 16, 1983 in Harare, Zimbabwe. She is her country's most decorate Olympian, winning seven Olympic medals, including two golds, in swimming from 2004-2008.
Post her retirement, Coventry moved into politics, serving as Zimbabwe's Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation, and also represented athletes on the IOC executive board from 2018 to 2021.
Coventry won back-to-back titles in 200-meters backstroke at the 2004 Athens Olympics and Beijing four years later.
She joined the IOC in 2013, almost one year after a disputed athlete election at the London Olympics.
KIRSTY COVENTRY SPORTS CAREER
Olympic Games
Gold Medals:- 2004 – 200m Backstroke- 2008 – 200m Backstroke
Silver Medals:- 2004 – 100m Backstroke- 2008 – 200m Individual Medley, 400m Individual Medley, 100m Backstroke
Bronze Medal:- 2004 – 200m Individual Medley- Competed in 2000 and 2016
World Championships
Gold Medals:- 2005 – 100m Backstroke, 200m Backstroke- 2009 – 200m Backstroke
Silver Medals:- 2005 – 200m Individual Medley, 400m Individual Medley- 2007 – 200m Backstroke, 200m Individual Medley- 2009 – 400m Individual Medley
World Cup
Silver Medal:- 2010 – 200m Individual Medley
Bronze Medals:- 2010 – 200m Backstroke, 200m Individual Medley
African Games (Brazzaville 2015)-
Gold Medals:- 200m Backstroke- 200m Individual Medley- 100m Backstroke
(With AP inputs)
