Kirsty Coventry was elected chairman of the International Olympic Committee and became the first woman and the first African to achieve the largest work in world sports.
« It is a sign that we are really global, » said Zimbabwe Sports Minister and twice the Olympic Swimming Gold Medal.
Hers was an impressive victory in the first round in the competition of seven candidates after voting for 97 members of the IOC.
It has an eight -year term until 2033 at the age of only 41, a youth for the historical standards of the IOC.
It was the most open and difficult to call IOC presidential election for decades with Coventry, which he expected to lead the first round of the absolute majority. Although several rounds of votes were widely predicted, he obtained the exact majority of 49 necessary.
Coventry’s victory was also a victory for the president of the outgoing IOC, Thomas Bach, who has long seen his successor. Did not use his right to vote.
« The young woman who started swimming in Zimbabwe all those years ago could never have dreamed of this moment, » Coventry said in his acceptance speech.
« I am especially proud to be the first President of the IOC and also the first in Africa, » he added. « I hope this vote is an inspiration for many people. Glass ceilings have been destroyed today and I am fully aware of my responsibilities as a role model. »
« I will make all of you, very proud and hopefully extremely confident in the decision you have made. We have now managed to work together, » he said.
Pictures of Milos Bicanski / Getty
Walking to the podium, he was congratulated and kissed the two cheeks for Juan Antonio Samaranch, his long -awaited rival who won 28 votes.
There were also four presidents of the sports governing bodies: Sebastian Coe of Track and Field, Johan Eliasch of Skiing, David Lapparient de Cycling and Morinary Watanabe of Gymnastics. Prince Feisal in Hussein was also the Feisal Prince of Jordan.
Coventry will formally replace his mentor Bach on June 23, officially Olympic Day, as the tenth president of the IOC in his 131 years of history. Bach reached the maximum of 12 years in office.
« We celebrate the Kirsty election as IOC president and plan to collaborate with it as he runs the Olympic movement into the future, » the United States Olympic Committee said in a statement. « As an Olympian and A dedicated IOC Member, Kirsty Has Demonstrated a Strong Commitment to Advancing Global Sport and Creation Opportunities for Athletes. As We Look Forward to Transformed Decade of Olympic and Parallympic Sport in the United States –welcoming the Games Back In 2028 and 2034 Partnership with the Ioc will be Essential.
The challenges of the Olympic Games
The key challenges for the 41 -year -old Auburn University of Auburn will direct the Olympic movement through political and sports issues to the 2028 Summer Games in Los AngelesIncluding participation in diplomacy with the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
The Coventry IOC will also have to find a host for the 2036 Summer Games that could go to India or to the Middle East.
The strongest candidates in a five -month campaign with closely controlled rules drafted by Bach led to be Coventry, who recently gave birth to his second son, Vice President of the CoI Samaranch and COE.
Coventry manifesto offered Bach’s continuity with little detail, while his rivals had specifications to benefit Olympic athletes, which was as recently as 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.
Coventry, in his manifesto, wrote that « he would continue to prioritize mental health (athletes), physical recovery and amplify their holistic well-being to help them prosper throughout their athletic careers and beyond. »
COE’s world athletics broke an Olympic tabu, paying $ 50,000 to track and Campar Gold Medalists in Paris last year. Samaranch promised to relax the strict Commercial Rules of the IOC and give the athletes control the images of his Olympic actions.
Samaranch tried to follow his father, also Juan Antonio Samaranch, who was the seventh President of the IOC from 1980 to 2001.
COE aimed to add a remarkable career of Olympic triumphs: an Olympic gold medal twice in the 1,500 meters, led a bidding team at the 2012 London Olympic Games, then worked for the following seven years to lead the organizing team of those very praised games. Obtained only eight votes.
It has been a stellar week for Bach, who greeted Coventry and shared warm smiles after the acceptance speech.
Bach was abandoned on Wednesday in an emotional start of the annual meeting of the IOC, achieving lavish praise and the title of honorary president of life. He repeated his desire to offer advice to the following president.
Its practical presidency of the executive style will deliver a financially safe IOC, to obtain more than $ 8 billion in revenue through the Olympic Games of the 2028 and with a board of future hosts until 2034: in Italy, the United States, France, Australia and finally the United States, when the Winter Games return to Salt Lake City.
A Bach Signature policy has also been gender parity, with equal quotas of men and women athletes at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024, giving a better balance of female members of the IOC and the Executive Board, which now has seven women among its 15 members, including Coventry.
His victory on Thursday will only be added to Bach’s legacy to promote women.
Coventry won attached titles 200 meters to the 2004 and Beijing Olympic Games four years later. He joined the IOC in 2013, almost a year after the athlete election played at the London Olympic Games. Its place among the four elected athletes was granted after the court of arbitration by sports judgments against two opponents.
The following president may supervise the IOC by making a statement statement for his hosts for the 2036 Summer Games.
« There is one and a single one, » Samaranch said Wednesday when he asked about the challenges there. « We need to concentrate (in) successful and relevant Olympic Games. The rest is successful in the Games. »
The exclusive club voters invited to members of the IOC include members of the royal family, former legislators and diplomats, business leaders, sports officials and Olympic athletes. Even an Oscar winning actress, Michelle Yeh.
The members voted without listening to more presentations from the candidates in an election that turned in a discreet network of friendships and alliances to a large extent of the sight.
Leave a Reply