GENEVA, June 23. /TASS/. Two-time Olympic Champion Kirsty Coventry from Zimbabwe officially assumed on Monday the office of the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), replacing Germany’s Thomas Bach in this position.
Coventry, 41, was elected to take the reign over the Olympic body after the vote at the 144th IOC’s Session in Greece last March and she is now the first ever female IOC president.
In all, seven candidates vied for the IOC presidency at the organization’s 144th session, held in Greece between March 18 and 21. The list of candidates included Sebastian Coe (Great Britain), Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr (Spain), Morinari Watanabe (Japan), Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe), David Lappartient (France), Johan Eliasch (Great Britain) and Prince Faisal bin Hussein (Jordan).
Zimbabwe’s Coventry is a two-time Olympic champion in the swimming 200-meter backstroke (2004 and 2008). She also packs three Olympic silver medals and one bronze and she is a three-time world champion.
In late February, the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board accepted a resignation letter from the previous 71-year-old IOC president, Thomas Bach, who had been at the helm of the international organization for 12 years.
