Kirsty Coventry has made sporting history by being elected president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at its General Assembly on Thursday (March 20, 2025). She will be the first woman and first person from Africa to head the IOC.

"This is an extraordinary moment. As a nine-year-old girl I never thought that I would be standing up here one day, getting to give back to this incredible movement of ours," Coventry said afterwards.

"This is not just a huge honour but it is a reminder to every single one of you that I will lead this organisation with so much pride, with the values at the core and I will make all of you very, very proud and, I hope, extremely confident in the decision you've taken today. Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Coventry won after just the first round of voting, securing 49 of the 97 possible votes. Juan Antonio Samaranch Junior won 28, while World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe earned eight votes.

Coventry will also be the youngest president since Pierre de Coubertin, the founding father of the modern Olympic Games. The Frenchman founded the IOC in 1894 and took over the presidency two years later at the age of 33. Coventry, a former world-class swimmer from Zimbabwe , is 41.

Africa's most successful female Olympian

At the age of 20, she made her Olympic dream come true. At the 2004 Games in Athens, Coventry won the gold medal in the 200-meter backstroke. Four years later, in 2008 in Beijing, she won gold again. In addition to those two gold medals, she collected four Olympic silver medals and one bronze. This makes Coventry Africa's most successful female Olympian of all time. The only African who has had more success at the Olympics is long-distance runner Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia – who won three gold medals (and two bronze).

By the time Coventry finished her career, she had been at five Olympics, broken multiple world records and had one of the best World Championship careers of all time.

Uniting a troubled nation

Writing on LinkedIn, Coventry said her success was more important for what it symbolised.

"However, none of this is as important as what this success did and can do for others. It united my country where divisions caused by economic and political turmoil were crippling it, and it gave hope to people who thought their circumstances prevented them from following their dreams."

While still an active swimmer, Coventry was elected to the IOC Athletes' Commission in 2013. She represented the interests of athletes for eight years, including three years as chairperson. More recently, she has been a member of the IOC Executive Board.

An African Olympic host?

The increased influence of the Zimbabwean has raised hopes in Africa that the Summer Olympics could soon perhaps be hosted on the African continent for the first time.

Although South Africa and Egypt have expressed their interest, Coventry has played down such expectations.

"The interest is there and now we need to ensure that we're working closely with all of these countries that are interested so that they fully understand the magnitude of the Olympic Games," she said.

The countries of Africa, Coventry said in a Q&A session organized by the Association of International Sports Journalists (AIPS), should "really strategically look from the African Union point of view on how we can develop through the All Africa Games our infrastructure that can then be followed up and used by an Olympic Games bid."

Coventry knows from experience just how tough such political processes can be. She has been Zimbabwe's Minister of Sport since 2018, adding she now definitely has a thicker skin than she used to as an athlete.

Diplomatic on controversial issues

When asked whether she thinks trans women should be allowed to compete in women's competitions, she was evasive.

"100% it is necessary to find a solution," Coventry said. "I think that we as the IOC have to take a little bit more of a leadership role."

The Zimbabwean also avoided going too far out on a limb on another hot topic before the IOC election: the possibility of Russian and Belarusian athletes competing at the Olympics.

"I think above anything else it's our duty as the IOC to ensure that all athletes can participate at the Games," she said. "That's going to look different for a number of different athletes but at the end of the day I do believe that we need to find a holistic way of sadly dealing with athletes from conflict areas."

She was speaking in light of her experience competing for Zimbabwe at a time when the country was in political turmoil and under international sanctions.

"It could have been very easy for the international community to not allow us to take part. I look at (it) and say what would my life be today? I am grateful that I was not held accountable for what the leaders and governments were doing."

Much to do in battle for equality

Kirsty Coventry is not only a sports administrator and politician but also a mother. She has two daughters, one six year old and one born less than six months ago.

"By the time she was one year old, she had already been to 10 different countries around the world," Coventry said of her older daughter.

"I have an incredible network of support from my husband and family. This is a normal way of life for us. I think it's a good way to show that women are just as capable as men even if we are to be expected to be full-time mothers, wives, daughters etc."

"We still have a lot of work to do, and I am excited about leading this movement," Coventry said of gender equality. "Women are ready to lead. I look at it as an opportunity to push through boundaries so that when my two girls are growing up, they don't have the same boundaries."

Coventry will take office on June 24, 2025, one day after outgoing IOC President Thomas Bach's term ends. 

This article was originally published in German on March 17, 2023. It has been updated to reflect the outcome of the IOC presidential election on March 20, 2025.

Edited by: Jonathan Harding