{"id":106411,"date":"2025-03-25T22:27:49","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T20:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/kirsty-coventry-to-step-down-as-zimbabwes-sports-minister-after-election-as-ioc-president"},"modified":"2025-04-04T14:24:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T12:24:40","slug":"kirsty-coventry-to-step-down-as-zimbabwes-sports-minister-after-election-as-ioc-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/kirsty-coventry-to-step-down-as-zimbabwes-sports-minister-after-election-as-ioc-president","title":{"rendered":"Kirsty Coventry To Step Down As Zimbabwe’s Sports Minister After Election As IOC President"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>Zimbabwe\u2019s Minister of Sport, Recreation, Arts, and Culture, Kirsty Coventry, has confirmed that she will relinquish her ministerial post following her recent election as the 10th President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).<\/p>\n

The 41-year-old was elected in a secret vote among seven candidates during the 144th IOC Session in Costa Navarino, Greece, on March 20. She will serve an eight-year term.<\/p>\n

Coventry made history by becoming the IOC\u2019s first female and first African president in its 130-year history.<\/p>\n

Addressing the media upon her arrival from Greece on Sunday, Coventry, a two-time Olympic gold medallist, said that there is time for a smooth handover with her successor, as she will formally take office at the IOC on June 23. She said:<\/p>\n

I\u2019m very honoured to have been part of this government for the last few years. I will be sad not to sit next to you anymore, Monica [Women\u2019s Affairs minister Mutsvangwa].<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m grateful for the advice that all my colleagues have given me over the last few years.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m very grateful. I can\u2019t see Dr [Thokozile] Chitepo, but when I first came in, Doc, you were an incredible source of inspiration and support, so thank you for that. I\u2019m proud of the work that we\u2019ve all done.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t worry, I\u2019m not going to just run away tomorrow. We have a handover transition period, and I will formally take office on June 23rd. So, we have some time. To the ministry, I see a lot of my team from the ministry here.<\/p>\n

Thank you to the directors, deputy directors, CDs (chief directors), and acting CDs. I appreciated getting to know all of you and working together over the last few years.<\/p>\n

Coventry will officially take office on Olympic Day, June 23, after the handover from President Bach. Bach will remain in his role until then, but will resign as an IOC Member following the transfer of power and will take on the title of Honorary President.<\/p>\n

Coventry\u2019s first major event will be overseeing the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, with less than 11 months until the Opening Ceremony.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe\u2019s Minister of Sport, Recreation, Arts, and Culture, Kirsty Coventry, has confirmed that she will relinquish her ministerial post following her recent election as the 10th President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The 41-year-old was elected in a secret vote among seven candidates during the 144th IOC Session in Costa Navarino, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":106410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,16],"tags":[1757,19],"class_list":["post-106411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-kirsty-coventry","tag-zimbabwe"],"yoast_head":"\nKirsty Coventry To Step Down As Zimbabwe's Sports Minister After Election As IOC President - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Zimbabwe\u2019s Minister of Sport, Recreation, Arts, and Culture, Kirsty Coventry, has confirmed that she will relinquish her ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/kirsty-coventry-to-step-down-as-zimbabwes-sports-minister-after-election-as-ioc-president\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kirsty Coventry To Step Down As Zimbabwe's Sports Minister After Election As IOC President\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Zimbabwe\u2019s Minister of Sport, Recreation, Arts, and Culture, Kirsty Coventry, has confirmed that she will relinquish her ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/kirsty-coventry-to-step-down-as-zimbabwes-sports-minister-after-election-as-ioc-president\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-25T20:27:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-04T12:24:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2025\/03\/sm_1742929368.763188.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"685\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/kirsty-coventry-to-step-down-as-zimbabwes-sports-minister-after-election-as-ioc-president#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/kirsty-coventry-to-step-down-as-zimbabwes-sports-minister-after-election-as-ioc-president\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Kirsty Coventry To Step Down As Zimbabwe’s Sports Minister After Election As IOC President\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-25T20:27:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-04T12:24:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/kirsty-coventry-to-step-down-as-zimbabwes-sports-minister-after-election-as-ioc-president\"},\"wordCount\":384,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/kirsty-coventry-to-step-down-as-zimbabwes-sports-minister-after-election-as-ioc-president#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2025\/03\/sm_1742929368.763188.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Kirsty Coventry\",\"Zimbabwe\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/kirsty-coventry-to-step-down-as-zimbabwes-sports-minister-after-election-as-ioc-president#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/kirsty-coventry-to-step-down-as-zimbabwes-sports-minister-after-election-as-ioc-president\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/kirsty-coventry-to-step-down-as-zimbabwes-sports-minister-after-election-as-ioc-president\",\"name\":\"Kirsty Coventry To Step Down As Zimbabwe's Sports Minister After Election As IOC President - 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