By Richard Baka, Rob Hess and Tracy Taylor
In a surprisingly emphatic result, 41-year-old Kirsty Coventry, Zimbabwe’s Sports Minister, was selected as the new president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at its 144th session in Greece.
Coventry is the first woman, the first African, and the youngest person ever to take on the role.
So how did she rise to this position, and what should sports in Australia and globally expect?
Unpacking the votes
Coventry comes well-credentialed as a five-time Olympic swimmer, representing Zimbabwe from 2000 to 2016 and winning seven medals, two of them gold.
An IOC member since 2013, Coventry was initially an athlete-elected member.
She has taken on various IOC roles, including most recently on the Coordination Committee for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Although Coventry was one of the three favourites, along with Sebastian Coe from the United Kingdom and Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr from Spain (son of the previous IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch), she won the vote in a landslide on the first ballot, securing 49 votes of the 97.
Having obtained the required 50% majority, no further rounds were held.
So begins a new dawn for the IOC’s now extremely powerful inaugural woman leader, who will face several challenges.
How did she win?
Foremost, Coventry had longstanding president Thomas Bach’s informal endorsement and support.
Bach no doubt had a huge sway over the voting members, many of whom were elected to the IOC during his 12-year reign.
Bach’s appointment as Honorary President for Life from June this year means he will still have a powerful role and be able to mentor and influence Coventry.
A lack of transparent voting for the position means we cannot know who voted for whom. Some will presume the new president garnered the majority of votes from women and African delegates, but such an observation can only be speculative.
With women comprising 43% of IOC members, it is a reasonable assumption this cohort provided a strong support base.
Several candidates proposed quite significant (and in some cases radical) changes, suggesting a vote for Coventry was a nod to keeping the status quo.
Or was it just time to break the hold of male presidents?
The 2024 Paris Olympics were the first games with equal 50-50 men-women participation. The IOC membership has also changed over the past few decades, with growing representation of women. As a result, its long-held reputation as an “old boys’ club” is slowly shifting.
Coventry triumphed despite previous doubts about her domestic political ties, and a limited change agenda that seemed to be mainly a legacy choice for Bach.
In this context, Bach might continue to exert his influence.
Global challenges for the new president
As Olympic Agenda 2020+5 draws to its end, the new president will have the opportunity to set a future-focused strategy.
There are plenty of areas she will need to consider in taking the reins. Here are our top ten:
- Safeguarding athletes. The provision of safe spaces for sport is an area of global concern as the incidents of athlete harm are brought to light.
- Environmental, sustainability and global warming issues, such as lack of snow for the winter games, venue rationale, spending on mega events, and lack of bidders for future games.
- The impact of AI and digital transformation on all aspects of sport, from athlete performance and officiating to governance and management.
- Bidding processes for future host cities.
- Transgender athletes and diversity, equity and inclusion considerations.
- The (Australian-initiated) proposal for the pharmaceutical free-for-all Enhanced Games.
- Sponsorship changes – longtime sponsors Toyota and Panasonic have dropped out but others have come in, with some from China.
- Relations with Russia and the United States
- Athlete advocacy – perhaps giving the athletes more of the financial windfall the Olympics generate.
- Addition of new sports and culling or dropping existing less popular ones.
What about Australia?
Coventry comes from an impressive swimming background, and this could work to Australia’s advantage.
Although she will step down from her role on the Coordination Committee for the Brisbane Olympics and Paralympics to handle other pressing presidential duties, she will no doubt retain a close link to the third Australian Olympic host city.
The Australian Olympic Commission was quick to congratulate her on her ascension to the IOC presidency.
Coventry knows AOC President Ian Chesterman, a fellow IOC member, so we can expect a close, friendly working relationship between them.
With the Brisbane games only seven years away, the new IOC president will certainly have a strong vested interest in Australia and aspects of the Olympic and Paralympic movement in this part of the world.
