Kirsty Coventry has made history by becoming the first woman and first African to be elected president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Coventry assumed office on June 23, 2025, replacing outgoing president Thomas Bach of Germany, who stepped

Zimbabwe's Sports Minister and double Olympic swimming champion, Kirsty Coventry, is the first African and youngest person, at 41, to assume the presidency of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Coventry is also the first woman to lead the global Olympic governing body in its 106-year history. She secured the position after

Preparations are underway in Senegal for the Youth Olympics Games. The event, scheduled to take place over two weeks from October 31, 2026, will bring together about 2,700 young athletes from around the world.

It marks the first time an Olympic sports event will be hosted in Africa and will feature 25 sporting categories, including athletics, aquatics, baseball, basketball, boxing, breaking, and cycling.

The organizing committee has said Dakar 2026 will also showcase "an

Ten African countries earned medals at the 2024 Paralympic Games, with 23 gold medals distributed among eight nations.

Morocco emerged as the most successful nation overall, securing 15 medals, but it was Algeria that topped the continent's medal tally

Kenya led the way with a total of 11 medals, consisting of four gold, two silver, and five bronze, finishing in 17th place overall at the just concluded Paris Olympics.

Other African nations that made the medals table include Algeria, which placed joint 39th with three medals: two gold and one bronze. South Africa finished

The 21-year-old Letsile Tebogo from Botswana became the first man from Africa to win the 200m at an Olympîc Games.

Africa has already claimed at least six gold medals at the Paris Olympics. The continent eagerly anticipates more medal-winning performances from talented athletes in diverse sporting fields.

Seventeen-year-old Kaylia Nemour won gold in the women's uneven bars final at Paris 2024, making history as the first African to win an Olympic medal in artistic gymnastics.

Her victory earned Algeria its sixth Olympic gold since its debut in Tokyo in 1964.

Cape Verdean boxer David de Pina secured a bronze medal after losing his men's 51kg semi-final bout against Uzbekistan's Hasanboy

Caster Semenya, 32, a two-time Olympic winner in the 800 metres, has made a modest step toward competing in Paris 2024, but she still has a long way to go in her fight against World Athletics rules that have largely prevented her from racing for the past four years, writes Nick Said for the Daily Maverick.

The

Alex Isaboke for Capital FM reports that the penultimate day of the 24th Summer Deaflympics in Caxias do Sul in Brazil, saw Kenya bag eight medals - taking their medals tally to 24.

Kenya won 2 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze on a rained-on track to take the total count to 5 gold, 7 silver and 12 bronze medals, surpassing the 16 medals won in 2017. 

Sharon Jeptarus opened the

Blessing Okagbare-Otegheri, 33, was Nigeria's hope for a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games but was suspended for testing positive in a drugs test taken in Slovenia in July 2021 in which the presence of Human Growth Hormone was found. Nigeria's Minister of Sport Sunday Dare described the findings as "unfortunate". 

Okagbare-Otegheri has been Nigeria's star track and field athlete. She holds the Olympic and World Championship records for long