Zimbabwe’s Coventry becomes first woman IOC president

ISLAMABAD: Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry has made history as the first woman and African to become the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and fittingly, this milestone was achieved in Costa Navarino (Greece), around 100km from the sacred site of Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games.

In what many thought was one of the most unpredictable elections in IOC history, the 41-year-old Coventry only needed one round of voting in less than ten minutes to obtain the absolute majority of votes.

While she was largely perceived as one of the frontrunners during the six-month campaign, with many believing she had the backing of the outgoing President Thomas Bach, there was really no clear-cut favourite among the record field of seven candidates prior to the election.

Out of a total of 97 possible votes, Coventry amassed 49. IOC Vice-President Juan Antonio Samaranch settled for second place with 28 votes. World Athletics President Sebastian Coe was third with 8 votes, followed by UCI President David Lappartient and FIG President Morinari Watanabe with 4 votes apiece.

IOC Executive Board member Prince Feisal Al Hussein and FIS President Johan Eliasch got 2 votes each.