Olympics: Coventry begins term as IOC president
Lausanne, Switzerland (Kyodo) -- Kirsty Coventry was officially sworn in Tuesday as president of the International Olympic Committee, becoming the first woman and the first person from Africa to take the post in its more than 130-year history.
The 41-year-old former swimmer from Zimbabwe, who won 200-meter backstroke gold at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, succeeds Thomas Bach and begins her eight-year term amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and tensions in the Middle East.
The IOC is also tackling the issue of Russian athletes' participation in the Olympics.
In March, she was elected as the 10th president of the IOC, winning 49 of the 97 votes during the first round of the secret ballot at the 144th IOC Session in Greece.
Coventry won seven medals in total from five Olympic appearances before becoming an IOC member in 2013.
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