Who is Kirsty Coventry, the new IOC president, the first woman

Kirsty Coventry, a former Zimbabwe swimmer, was made the 10th president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday.

She became the first woman and African to ever be elected to the position.

Coventry, 41, is Africa’s most decorated Olympian and a minister in a government often accused of oppressing political opposition.

She will start her eight-year term in charge of the most powerful jobs in sports on June 24 after incumbent Thomas Bach steps down. Bach performed duty for 12 years.

In 2004 and 2008, Coventry won Olympic gold medals (back-to-back) in the 200-meter backstroke.

After the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016, the player retired from swimming with seven Olympic medals.

Coventry, also currently Zimbabwe’s minister of youth, sports, arts and recreation, has drawn some scrutiny of her affiliation with a government. It has long faced accusations of cracking down on democratic freedoms and suppressed criticism in the southern African country.

The United States and the European Union have targeted her country and the government with sanctions.

 At the height of her swimming career. Late Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe praised Coventry and awarded her with a diplomatic passport and $100,000.

Coventry took the responsibility of the Ministry of sports a year after current President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who rights groups say has continued many of Mugabe’s oppressive policies.

Coventry was appointed a government minister in a move when she was just 34.