Kirsty Coventry was elected as the first female president and the 10th president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday, March 20, at the 144th IOC Session in Costa Navarino.
The seven-time Olympic swimming medalist also became the first African to lead the IOC.
At 41, she will also be the youngest president since Pierre de Coubertin, the founding father of the modern Olympic Games.
“This is an extraordinary moment. As a nine-year-old girl, I never thought that I would be standing up here one day, getting to give back to this incredible movement of ours,” Coventry said afterwards.
“This is not just a huge honour but it is a reminder to every single one of you that I will lead this organisation with so much pride, with the values at the core and I will make all of you very, very proud and, I hope, extremely confident in the decision you’ve taken today. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
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Questions on Whether Coventry is African
The African Union (AU) congratulated Kirsty, describing her as “the first woman and African to hold this role”.
“We are so excited to see her break barriers and pave the way for an equitable and inclusive future in sport,” AU noted.
The election of a woman from Africa as its leader has been described as a bold new direction for the IOC, whose nine previous presidents have all been men from Europe or the United States.
However, a number of social media users have questioned whether Kirsty is truly African.
An X user, Logica Bomb, while commenting on one of the posts, wrote, “These people are African when it’s convenient. You, with your black skin, even if you were born outside Buckingham Palace, try calling yourself European.”
Another user chimed in, stating, “Which African? When a Black African lives or is born in the West, they’re called Black Americans or something. Call her what you call us too.”
At the same time, a user, Kanyinge Alex, posed, “Look at someone you’re calling African? Even the name itself—does it sound African?”
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Is Kirsty Coventry African?
A spot check by The Kenya Times found out that Kirsty Coventry is from Zimbabwe and has beeen serving as the country’s Minister for Youth, Sports, Art and Recreation.
She is also the Vice-President of the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee, Vice-President of the International Surfing Federation, a member of FINA’s athlete committee and a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Coventry was born in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1983, just years after a liberation war that saw the end of white-minority rule in what was then known as Rhodesia.
She was a swimming star from an early age and ended up competing in her first Olympics in 2000 when she was still at high school.
But it was in the 2004 and 2008 Games where she really excelled, winning the gold both times in the 200-meter backstroke.
Coventry attended an all-girls convent school in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare. She went to college at Auburn University in Alabama and became one of its star swimmers.
Kirsty Coventry made her Olympic debut in Sydney in 2000 while still in high school. She won three medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics and four medals at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Some sources reveal that Kirsty Coventry’s parents are of British descent. Though they are originally from the UK, they became Zimbabwean citizens and lived in the country, where Kirsty was born and grew up.
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