Kirsty Coventry elected as first woman and first African IOC President

Kirsty Coventry smashed through the International Olympic Committee's glass ceiling on Thursday, becoming the organization's first female and first African president in its 130-year history.

The Zimbabwean swimming great, already a towering figure in Olympic circles, emerged victorious in the race to succeed Thomas Bach, securing the top job in world sport and ushering in a new era for the Games.

"It's a really powerful signal," a smiling Coventry said as the victory sank in. "It's a signal that we're truly global, and that we have evolved into an organization that is truly open to diversity, and we're going to continue."

Coventry, who currently serves as Zimbabwe's Sports Minister, needed just one round of voting to win the race to succeed Bach. She claimed an immediate overall majority in the secret ballot with 49 of the 97 available votes.

IOC Vice President Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. finished in second place, with the Spaniard earning 28 votes. Great Britain's Sebastian Coe, the head of World Athletics who was considered one of the frontrunners in the days leading up to the election, ended up a distant third with only eight votes.

The remaining handful of votes went to Frenchman David Lappartient, Jordan's Prince Feisal Al Hussein, Sweden-born Brit Johan Eliasch, and Japan's Morinari Watanabe.

"This is not just a huge honor, but it is a reminder of my commitment to every single one of you that I will lead this organization with so much pride," a beaming Coventry told her fellow IOC members at the luxury seaside resort in Greece's southwestern Peloponnese, which hosted the IOC Session.

"I will make all of you very, very proud, and hopefully extremely confident with the choice you've taken today, thank you from the bottom of my heart," she added.

Coventry said she now wants to make sure all of the candidates are on the same page going forward.

"I'm going to sit down with President Bach. We're going to have a few months for a handover takeover. And what I want to focus on is bringing all the candidates together. There were so many good ideas and exchanges over the last six months," she noted.

"Look at the IOC, and our Olympic Movement and family, and decide how exactly we're going to move forward in the future. What is it that we want to focus on in the first six months? I have some ideas, but a part of my campaign was listening to the IOC members and hearing what they have to say, and hearing how we want to move together."