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Zimbabwe sports minster Kirsty Coventry on Thursday became the first woman and first African elected as president of the International Olympic Committee.

Coventry, 41, was chosen over six other candidates in a secret ballot at the IOC session in Costa Navarino, Greece. She received 49 votes in the first round, exactly the majority needed to win out of 97 ballots cast.

Coventry, a two-time gold medal-winning swimmer, will begin her eight-year term on June 23 when she replaces the outgoing IOC president Thomas Bach.

“This is an extraordinary moment. As a 9-year-old girl I never thought I’d be standing up here one day, getting to give back to this incredible movement of ours,” Coventry said in her acceptance speech.

“This is not just a huge honor, but it is a reminder of my commitment to every single one of you that I will lead this organization with so much pride, with the values at the core. And I will make all of you very, very proud, and hopefully extremely confident in the decision that you have taken today. Now we’ve got some work together. This race was an incredible race and it made us better, made us a stronger movement.”

Coventry’s first Olympic competition as IOC president will be at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games in Italy.

Coventry won gold in the 200-meter backstroke in Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008. Her Olympic medal haul also includes four silvers and one bronze.

According to the breakdown of Thursday’s voting reported by Reuters, the runner-up was Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. with 28 votes. His father was the IOC president from 1980-2001.

–Field Level Media