Zimbabwe’s Coventry becomes first woman to head IOC

COSTA NAVARINO, Greece (AP):

Kirsty Coventry was elected president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) yesterday and became the first woman and first African to get perhaps the biggest job in world sports.

"It is a signal that we are truly global," the Zimbabwe sports minister and two-time Olympic swimming gold medallist said.

Hers was a stunning first-round win in the seven-candidate contest after voting by 97 IOC members.

The 41-year-old Coventry gets an eight-year mandate into 2033, with a likely early test in meeting with US President Donald Trump about the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Coventry was asked at a news conference about going to the White House.

"I have been dealing with, let's say, difficult," taking a pause, "men in high positions since I was 20 years old. What I have learned is that communication will be key," she said.

It was the most open and hard-to-call IOC presidential election in decades, with Coventry expected to lead the first round short of an absolute majority. Though several rounds of votes were widely predicted, she got the exact majority of 49 needed.

Coventry's win also was a victory for outgoing IOC president Thomas Bach, who has long been seen as promoting her as his successor. He did not use his right to vote.

"I will make all of you very, very proud and hopefully extremely confident in the decision you have taken," Coventry said in her acceptance speech. "Now we have got some work together."

Walking to the podium, she was congratulated and kissed on both cheeks by Juan Antonio Samaranch, her expected closest rival who got 28 votes.

"For her to start her presidency with those numbers, it is a sign of optimism to all of us," Samaranch said. "We will all be behind her."

Also in the race were four presidents of sports governing bodies: Track and field's Sebastian Coe, skiing's Johan Eliasch, cycling's David Lappartient, and gymnastics' Morinari Watanabe. Also contending was Prince Feisal al Hussein of Jordan.

Coventry will formally replace her mentor Bach at a June 23 handover -- officially Olympic Day -- as the 10th IOC president in its 131-year history. The 71-year-old Bach reached the maximum 12 years in office.

Key challenges for the Auburn University graduate, who is youthful by the historical standards of the IOC, will be steering the Olympic movement through political and sporting issues toward 2028 in LA.

Coventry's manifesto offered mostly continuity from Bach with little new detail, while her rivals had specifics to benefit Olympic athletes, which she was as recently as 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.

Coventry won back-to-back titles in 200 metres backstroke at the 2004 Athens Olympics and Beijing four years later. She joined the IOC in 2013, almost one year after a disputed athlete election at the London Olympics. Her place among the four athletes elected was eventually awarded after Court of Arbitration for Sport rulings against two opponents.