Thomas Bach gives the witness to Kirsty Coventry at the head of the IOC

The German Thomas Bachgave up This Monday the witness to the Zimbabuense Kirsty Coventry as the new president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)the first woman at the head of the institution that founded Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1894 and the first African person to direct her.

In one Ceremony held at the IOC headquarters In Lausana (Switzerland), Bach, 71, delivered 41 -year -old Coventry, who becomes the tenth president of the governing body of the world sport.

Bach, who has been in charge of the Olympic movement for twelve years, delivered the Gold key to the double Olympic champion in swimming in an emotional organized act three months after his choice at the head of the organism.

“Today is a day of joy, When the torch passed to a new generation. A new chapter opens before us, full of opportunities, driven by renewed energy and a renewed purpose. It is time to celebrate the enduring vitality of our shared mission, “he said Bach, which becomes a life president of the IOC.

Coventry was elected new president of the IOC on March 21 in the first vote with 49, votes One more than the other six rivals together -Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP, 28 votes), Sebastian Coe (GBR, 8), Morinori Watanabe (Jap, 4), David Lappartient (FR, 4), Johan Eliasch (GBR, 2) and Feisal al Hussein (Jor, 2).

Winner of seven Olympic medalstwo gold during her career as a swimmer, Coventry (41 years), which made her the most laureate athlete in Africa, and sports minister of her country until her election in March, It will be the first woman at the head of the IOCcommanded so far only by men, all Europeans except one, the American Avery Brundage (1952-1972).

Coventry thanked his predecessor for the work carried out during three mandates and the legacy he leaves in the institution: “It has kept us united in the most turbulent moments.” The unit was the common point of the speeches of the new president and the outgoing, in an international scenario convulsed of which the IOC has not been alien and that led him to suspend the participation of the Russian Olympic Committee in the Paris Games due to the invasion of Ukraine.

“Our movement, each of us, is part of that web. It is complex, beautiful and strong. But it only works if we work together and stay together, “proclaimed the former Zimbabue.

Coventry said that Olympism “needs to change and adopt new forms” and expressed its purpose of maintaining Bach's legacy and giving voice to all members of the Olympic community in the new stage. Del German recalled the words he directed to the COI athletes commission when she was part of this organ: “You told us: even if they are at the bottom of the room, I want to see their hands raised and I want to listen to them. 'That was recorded as athletes.”

The new head of the IOC defined Olympism as “a platform to inspire, change lives and bring hope.” He also valued what the first female representative of the IOC represents: “I had the great luck of counting very strongly with very strong women in my environment, from my grandmothers to my mother,” he evoked in the presence of her two daughters, she, six years old, and Lily, seven months, of whom she said they are “her pillars and her inspiration.”