Kirsty Coventry named new president of International Olympic Committee - as Sebastian Coe loses bid
20 March 2025, 16:58 | Updated: 20 March 2025, 18:08
The International Olympic Committee's elected its first female President.
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Kirsty Coventry - who won gold as a swimmer at the 2004 and 2008 Games - replaces Thomas Bach.
The 41-year-old becomes the first woman and first African in the post.
Sebastian Coe - who said occupying the Olympic Movement's highest office was a role he had been "training for for the best part of his life" - was unsuccessful in his bid.
Coventry's victory at the IOC Session in Greece was announced by current president Thomas Bach, who will officially hand over the reins on June 24.
Coe's campaign drew support from the track and field community, with Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt, four-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Mo Farah and 11-time Paralympic gold medallist Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson giving him their backing.
Coe stressed that the integrity of sport must be put before all else - and that includes protection of the female category.
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"If you do not protect it, or you are in any way ambivalent about it for whatever reason, then it will not end well for women's sport," Coe said when he launched his campaign last year.
"I come from a sport where that is absolutely sacrosanct."
World Athletics is set to vote through new rules requiring athletes to undergo a cheek swab to prove they are biologically female and therefore eligible to compete in its elite female events.
