Today we celebrate Kirsty Coventry Seward who is set to be the 10th president of the International Olympic Committee (from June 2025). She is the first woman and the first African to be elected to that position.
Kirsty Leigh Coventry Seward (née Coventry; born 16 September 1983) is a Zimbabwean politician, sports administrator and retired competitive swimmer. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Hotel and Restaurant Management (2006). Coventry is the most decorated Olympian from Africa. She competed in five Olympics and won seven Olympic medals. She won the most individual medals in women’s swimming in Olympic history.
Coventry’s accolades includes:
2004 Summer Olympics (Athens, Greece): 1 gold, 1 silver & 1 bronze medal;
2007 All-Africa Games (Algiers, Algeria): 7 gold & 3 silver medals;
2008 Summer Olympics (Beijing, China): 1 gold & 3 silver medals;
2008 Missouri Grand Prix: 200m backstroke record broken & 3 gold medals;
2008 Manchester Short Course World Championships: 3 world records broken & 4 gold medals;
2009 World Aquatics Championships (Rome, Italy): world record broken, 1 gold & 1 silver medal;
2015 All-Africa Games (Maputo, Mozambique): 4 gold & 4 silver medals;
Coventry retired from competitive swimming in 2016. As a result of her illustrious swimming career, she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame (2023).
In 2012, Coventry was elected to the International Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commission. From then she has served as an IOC member.
On 7 September 2018, eight days shy of her 35th birthday, Coventry was appointed Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation in Zimbabwe’s 20-member Cabinet under President Emmerson Mnangagwa. In 2018, she was also elected the Chairperson of the IOC Athletes’ Commission. In 2023, she became an elected member of the IOC Executive Committee.
Congratulations Kirsty Coventry!
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If you enjoyed reading this article, you might enjoy reading Women Presidents Around The World or 10 trailblazing African Women in Sports
