Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry was elected the first African and female president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the 144th session, which ended today in Greece.
The 41-year-old, who is the current sports minister in Zimbabwe, won in the first round of the election, which lasted for less than 10 minutes, polling 49 votes from the total valid of 97 votes to be elected the 10th IOC president, taking over from Thomas Bach, who has served for a period of 12 years.
Juan Antonio Samaranch finished in second place with 28 votes, while Lord Coe, the president of World Athletics, came in third place with 8 votes.
David Larpattient and Morinari Watanabe polled 4 votes each, while Prince Feisal Al Hussein and Jonah Eliasch got two votes apiece.
Coventry, who was a former swimmer later on served as Surfing Federation President, is the youngest ever IOC President and will serve for an 8-year term