Zimbabwe swimmer starts as new IOC president

Lausanne — New International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Kirsty Coventry pledged on Monday to strengthen and extend the reach of the Games, as Zimbabwe’s Olympic swimming champion took over from Thomas Bach in a ceremony in Lausanne.

Coventry, who starts her eight-year spell officially on Tuesday as the most powerful sports administrator in the world, became the first woman and the first African to be elected head of the Olympic ruling body in March.

The IOC generates several billion dollars in revenues each year in sponsorship and broadcasting deals for the summer and winter Olympics.

Coventry needed only one round of voting to clinch the race to succeed Bach, beating six other candidates. On Monday she was handed the golden key to the IOC by Bach, who was in charge for 12 years.

“I am really honoured I get to walk this journey with you. I cannot wait for anything that lies ahead,” Coventry said in her address to IOC members and other Olympic stakeholders.

“I know I have the best team to support me and our movement over the next eight years.”

Los Angeles will host the 2028 Summer Olympics and Italy’s Milano-Cortina will stage 2026’s Winter Games.

Coventry will hold a two-day workshop this week to get feedback from members on IOC issues.

“Working together and consistently finding ways to strengthen and keep united our movement that will ensure that we wake up daily ... to continue to inspire,” she said.

A seven-times Olympic medallist, Coventry won 200m backstroke gold at the 2004 Athens Games and in Beijing four years later.

“With her election, you have also sent a powerful message to the world: the IOC continues to evolve,” Bach said in his speech. “With Kirsty Coventry, the Olympic movement will be in the best of hands.”

Reuters