Coventry, Africa's most decorated Olympian, set to take charge at IOC

Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe made history when she was elected as the first female and first African head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday. She will begin her eight-year term as President in June.

Born in Harare in 1983, Coventry made her Olympic debut in Sydney, Australia, in 2000, when she was still a high school student, before continuing her competitive career at Auburn University in the United States. She participated in four events at her first Olympics – the women's 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter freestyle, 100-meter backstroke, and 200-meter individual medley – and became the first athlete her country to reach the semifinals of any swimming event at the Games.

After going on to compete at four more editions of the Olympics, Coventry earned a total of seven medals – two golds in the 200-meter backstroke; four silvers among the 100-meter backstroke, 200-meter individual medley, and 400-meter individual medley; and one bronze in the 200-meter individual medley.

Coventry, who retired from swimming in 2016, had been elected to the IOC Athletes' Commission in 2012 and spent eight years in that position. Back home in Zimbabwe, she was appointed as the nation's Sports Minister in 2019.

In 2023, Coventry became an elected member of the IOC Executive Committee, and was later announced as one of the seven candidates in the running to succeed Thomas Bach as IOC President.