The luxury Romanos Resort in Costa Navarino, Pylos, hosted the election of IOC’s first female and African president Kirsty Coventry.
The session took place from the 19th to the 21st of March in the House of Events building. The opening ceremony of the IOC Session took place on the 18th of March roughly 100km away at Olympia on the Peloponnese peninsula.
The Romanos Resort is connected to the Westin Resort, which makes up the Costa Navarino resort. The Mandarin Oriental and W Costa Navarino also make up the retreat.
Kirsty Coventry is The Zimbabwe Minister of Youth, Sports Arts and Recreation and two-time swimming gold medalist. She has been granted an eight-year term into 2033 at just 41-years old, becoming the youngest IOC president.
Her first-round win in the election with 49 of the available 97 votes granted her victorious over Spain’s Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr and Great Britain’s Sebastian Coe. She will replace outgoing IOC president Thomas Bach on June 23, and will oversee the Milan Olympic Winter Games in 2026.
“I’m very proud to call myself a Zimbabwean and to have grown up there” she said to Olympics.com. “And, [my message] to Africa: this is our time.”