Lord Coe suffered a crushing defeat in his bid to become president of the International Olympic Committee, with Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry routing her six rivals in the first round of voting to seize the most powerful job in global sport.
In an election that had been expected to last at least five rounds, the 41-year-old Coventry – the preferred candidate of outgoing IOC chief Thomas Bach – won 49 of 97 available votes on the opening ballot to secure an outright majority. Spain’s Juan Antonio Samaranch Jnr was second with 28, while Coe received just eight votes. “It’s a disappointing result,” he said.