Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry becomes first woman to be elected International Olympic Committee president

Kirsty Coventry was elected president of the International Olympic Committee on Thursday, securing victory in a high-stakes vote at a luxury seaside resort in Greece’s southwestern Peloponnese.

The Zimbabwean needed only one round of voting to clinch the race to succeed Thomas Bach, winning an immediate overall majority in the secret ballot to take the helm of the world's wealthiest multi-sport organisation.

Coventry beat Britain’s Sebastian Coe, Spain’s Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., Frenchman David Lappartient, Jordan’s Prince Feisal, Swedish-born Johan Eliasch, and Japan’s Morinari Watanabe in the election that had been expected to be a far closer-run affair.

Kirsty Coventry's responsibilities

As the new IOC president, Coventry will now be tasked with steering the Olympic Movement into a new era, overseeing future Games and addressing key challenges such as rising costs, geopolitical tensions, and the evolving landscape of global sports governance.

ICC Chairman Jay Shah congratulates Kirsty Coventry

The International Cricket Council chairman Jay Shah congratulated Kirsty Coventry on her achievement. Stating that Kirsty “thoroughly deserved” the honour, Shah said : “I look forward to working with you (Kirsty) and your team on cricket’s inclusion in the @LA28 Games - and beyond.”

For the first time in 100 years, cricket will be one of the sports at the Olympics programme in Los Angeles with the first Olympic medal up for grabs for the current generation of players. The last time cricket was a part of Olympics was back in 1900 with Great Britain and France being the only participants.

( with inputs from Reuters)