Kirsty Coventry

Kirsty Leigh Coventry Seward (née Coventry; born 16 September 1983) is a Zimbabwean politician, sports administrator and former competitive swimmer. She will become the 10th president of the International Olympic Committee in June 2025, being the first woman, the first Zimbabwean, and the first African to be elected to that position, replacing Thomas Bach. Coventry served in the Cabinet of Zimbabwe from September 2018 to March 2025 as the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation until September 2023 and then as Minister of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture. A former Olympic swimmer and world record holder, she is the most decorated Olympian from Africa.

Born in Harare, Coventry attended and swam competitively for Auburn University in Alabama, in the United States. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, in Athens, Coventry won three Olympic medals: a gold, a silver, and a bronze, and in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing she won four medals: a gold and three silver. She was subsequently described by Paul Chingoka, head of the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee, as "our national treasure". Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe called her "a golden girl", and awarded her US$100,000 in cash for her 2008 Olympic performance. In 2016, Coventry retired from swimming after her fifth Olympics, having won the joint-most individual medals in women's swimming in Olympic history. She is a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and was elected the Chairperson of the IOC Athletes' Commission, the body that represents all Olympic athletes worldwide, in early 2018. In 2025, she was elected President of the IOC, becoming the first woman and first African to do so. Following her election, President Emmerson Mnangagwa appointed Gen. Anselem Nhamo Sanyatwe to replace her as Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation.