Kirsty Coventry Among Seven Candidates To Succeed Thomas Bach As IOC President

Seven-time Olympic medalist Kirsty Coventry was announced as one of seven candidates to take over as president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Monday.

Coventry, currently the sports minister in the Cabinet of Zimbabwe, will be the only woman running, seeking to become the first female president in the IOC’s 130-year history.

Coventry will be running alongside World Athletics President Sebastian Coe, IOC VP Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., three presidents of international federations in Johan Eliasch (International Ski Federation), David Lappartient (International Cycling Union) and Morinari Watanabe (International Federation of Gymnastics), and IOC Board member and the President of the Jordan Olympic Committee, Prince Feisal Al Hussein.

IOC President Candidates

• Prince Feisal Al Hussein (Jordan)
• Sebastian Coe (Great Britain)
• Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe)
• Johan Eliasch (Sweden)
• David Lappartient (France)
• Juan Antonio Samaranch (Spain)
• Morinari Watanabe (Japan)

After sitting President Thomas Bach announced he would not be pursuing a third term last month, the IOC published a list of election rules and restrictions for anyone wishing to run for his seat.

A letter published early last week by IOC Ethics Commission Chair Ki-Moon Ban detailed some of the technical interpretations of the rules that impacted those who are running.

The first term for the new IOC President will run from 2025 through 2033.

The restrictions included:

• The IOC President must be a member of the IOC at the time of the election and during the entire duration of their term as IOC President.
• An IOC member reaching the age limit of 70 will lose their IOC membership, unless the member is proposed by the Executive Board and elected by the IOC Session for a four-year extension; the Olympic Charter provides for such an extension only once.
• The Olympic Charter does not grant the IOC President any exception regarding the end of their IOC membership because of either the age limit or the loss of the function for which the member was elected, namely as an active athlete, or as a president or holding an executive or senior leadership position within an NOC or [International Federation].
• Similarly, an IOC member elected in relation to a function who loses this function during their term as an IOC member, including as IOC President, will automatically lose their IOC membership, and as such end their term of office.

The restrictions figure to impact Coe, who is 67 and has his term as World Athletics President (and his IOC membership) expiring in 2027. Lappartient will be up for re-election as head of the UCI in 2025, and if elected, would have his third and final term end in 2029, four years short of the 2033 term for the next IOC President. Samaranch Jr. is also 64, meaning he would exceed the 70 age limit unless his term is extended.

As for Coventry, 41, she is not impacted by the restrictions and is a top candidate after serving in multiple IOC roles during Bach’s tenure. She’s been an IOC member since 2013, rejoined the Executive Board for a second time in 2023, and also chairs the IOC Panel overseeing the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane.

However, there are some criticisms of Coventry that could hamper her bid, including sending 67 Zimbabwean Officials to the 2024 Olympics despite the country only sending qualifying athletes.

Coventry also came under fire last year after coming into conflict with the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA). Coventry told Zimbabwe’s parliament that ZIFA misappropriated part of $2 million in federal funding and that some officials were suspended for sexual harassment, but members of the ZIFA board accused her of lying.

Another controversy she’s dealt with in recent years came when she was accused of having been misallocated farmland by Robert Zhuwao, former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe‘s nephew, but she was later cleared.

Coventry won Olympic gold in the women’s 200 backstroke at the 2004 Games, becoming Zimbabwe’s first individual Olympic champion. She also won silver in the 100 back and bronze in the 200 IM in Athens, and followed up by claiming a repeat gold in the 200 back in Beijing while adding a trio of silvers in the 100 back, 200 IM and 400 IM.

The seven presidential candidates will present their programs to the full IOC membership in January in Lausanne before a vote of the 111 IOC members during the 143rd IOC Session held from March 18-25 in Greece.