IOC Presidency: Thomas Bach (GER) to hand over to Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) on 23/06/2025

Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry will officially become IOC president at midnight on Monday 23/06/2025, succeeding Germany's Thomas Bach, who has held the post since his election on 10/09/2013 (re-elected on 10/03/2021).

Elected president of the International Olympic Committee for an eight-year term (2025-2032) in the first ballot at the 144^th IOC Session held in Costa Navarino (Greece) on 20/03/2025, Kirsty Coventry, born on 16/09/1983 in Harare (ZIM), is "the first woman and the first African ever to hold the IOC's highest office," recalled the world body on Olympic Day.

"With her election, you have also sent a powerful message to the world: the IOC continues to evolve. As the first female and first African to hold this position - and indeed the youngest IOC President since Pierre de Coubertin - she reflects the truly global nature and the youthful, forward-looking spirit of our Olympic community," Thomas Bach told IOC members at a ceremony attended by more than 700 guests at the Olympic House in Lausanne (SUI).

"She brings her own unique style and her own dynamic perspective. She has a…