IOC Gets First Woman President

• 26 Jun 2025

Why in News?

On 23rd June 2025, Kirsty Coventry became the first female and first African president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), coinciding with the IOC's 131st anniversary. 

• Thomas Bach, the outgoing president who completed his 12-year term starting in 2013, now assumes the honorary title of IOC President.

Key Points

About Kirsty Coventry

• Olympic Success: She is Zimbabwe’s most successful Olympian, having won seven of the country’s eight Olympic medals to date.
  • No African athlete has won more Olympic medals than Coventry, who specialized in backstroke and medley swimming.
• Olympic Medals: At the Athens 2004 Olympics, she won three medals: a gold in the 200m backstroke, a silver in the 100m backstroke, and a bronze in the 200m medley.
  • She defended her 200m backstroke title at Beijing 2008 and added three silver medals.
• World Titles and Retirement: Coventry won three long-course world titles in 2005 and 2009, along with four short-course gold medals in 2008. 
  • She retired from competitive swimming after the Rio 2016 Olympics, marking her fifth Olympic appearance.
• Government Role: In September 2018, she was appointed as Zimbabwe's Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts, and Recreation.
• IOC Involvement: Elected to the IOC in 2013 as a member of the Athletes’ Commission, she was re-elected as an individual IOC member in 2021.
• Role as IOC President: 
  • She will oversee the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 as her first Olympic Games.
  • She will also be overseeing the selection of the 2028 Summer Games host city.
    • Potential bids from Qatar and Saudi Arabia are under consideration, with the IOC's new process allowing fast-tracking of a preferred candidate.
  • She will hold a closed-door session with around 100 IOC members, including current and former heads of state, business leaders, athletes, and Olympic sports leaders.
  • She emphasized her role as a "guardian" of the Olympic platform, dedicated to inspiring, changing lives, and bringing hope worldwide, while leading the International Olympic Committee for the next eight years.

International Olympic Committee (IOC)

• The IOC is a non-governmental international organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, that came into existence in 1894. 
• The IOC decides the rules and regulations of the Olympic Games and when and where the next Olympic event will be held.
• The IOC is a permanent organisation that elects its own members, with each member speaking French or English and being a citizen of or residing in a country with a National Olympic Committee.
  • The IOC is the final authority on all questions concerning the Olympic Games and the Olympic movement.
• The IOC aims to ensure the regular holding of the Olympic Games and foster Olympism and the Olympic movement.
  • Olympism is a philosophy that blends sport, culture, education, and international cooperation, emphasizing the joy of effort, the educational value of good examples, social responsibility, and respect for universal ethical principles.
  • The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sports practised in accordance with Olympism and its values.
    • The three main constituents of the Olympic Movement are the IOC, the International Sports Federations (“IFs”), and the National Olympic Committees (“NOCs”).