Former swimmer Kirsty Coventry is one of seven confirmed candidates to succeed Thomas Bach as International Olympic Committee president.
Bach announced at the Paris Olympics that he intends to stand down after the end of his second term next year.
Coventry faces competition from Britain’s two-time Olympic 1500m champion, Lord Sebastian Coe, Spaniard Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, France’s David Lappartient, Japan’s Morinari Watanabe, Swede Johan Eliasch, and Prince Feisal al Hussein of Jordan.
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Coventry, a seven-time Olympic swimming medallist, is currently Zimbabwe’s sports minister and is bidding to become the first woman and African to head the IOC. She’s a former athlete representative on the IOC and founded her own swimming academy.
The new IOC president will be elected at a session in ancient Olympia from 18-21 March 2025 and will take over in June of that year.
Candidates will make presentations to the full IOC membership at a private meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, in January.
All IOC presidents have been men, with eight of the nine from Europe and one from the United States.
