For almost 30 minutes, IOC members and officials sat in tense silence in the windowless auditorium of the Costa Navarino hotel in Greece while the vote was verified. The IOC president, Thomas Bach, finally returned with his compliance officers and a white card in his hand. He stepped on to the stage and as he turned over the card, revealing the name “Kirsty Coventry” in block capitals, some of the IOC’s younger female members shed tears of joy.
For so long, the International Olympic Committee has been the domain of men. More specifically, since its inception in 1894, eight of the nine presidents have been greying European men (the sole exception was the former decathlete Avery Brundage, elected in 1952 – he was a greying American man). But in June, Coventry – a decorated Zimbabwean swimmer turned politician – will officially become the first woman, and first African, to lead the Olympic movement.
