Olympic champion Kirsty Coventry was elected as the new president of the International Olympic Committee. The 41-year-old two-time Olympic swimming champion became the first woman in history to head the IOC. About this informs Fox News.
In the first round of voting, 97 IOC members voted for Coventry, and she won out of seven candidates. The list of competitors included the heads of international sports federations: Sebastian Coe (athletics), Johan Elias (skiing), David Lappartien (cycling) and Morinari Watanabe (gymnastics), as well as Prince Faisal al-Hussein of Jordan.
Although several rounds of voting were expected, Coventry won the required majority of 49 votes in the first round and secured an eight-year mandate that runs until 2033.
Coventry previously served as Zimbabwe’s sports minister. She won two consecutive Olympic gold medals in the 200-meter backstroke, at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Coventry joined the IOC in 2013. She will succeed Thomas Bach, who has chaired the committee since September 2013, as chairman of the committee. On the day Coventry was elected, the IOC session also voted to grant Bach the status of honorary president of the organization. The official transfer of powers will take place on June 23 during the Olympic Day. The new head of the IOC is elected for a term of 8 years.
