Kirsty Coventry was elected president of the International Olympic Committee on Thursday and became the first woman and first African to get perhaps the biggest job in world sports. "It is a signal that we are truly global," the Zimbabwe sports minister and two-time Olympic swimming gold medalist said.

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,

The previous nine presidents were men from Europe or the U.S."This is an extraordinary moment," she said in an address to IOC members moments after outgoing IOC President Thomas Bach made the announcement.