Kirsty Coventry: Africa’s most-decorated Olympian is aiming to become IOC’s first female president

COSTA NAVARINO - Like adult cicadas and leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), new presidents of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) do not come around very often.

Since its creation in 1894, the governing body of the modern Olympics has had only nine presidents, two fewer than the CCP but the same number as FIFA, football’s global governing body. But, on Thursday, March 20, the 109 full members of the IOC — an electorate which includes three princesses, three princes, a grand duke, a baron, an emir and an Oscar winner — will vote to elect their organisation’s 10th leader.

And they do so at a time when the Olympics, the self-styled greatest show on earth, finds itself at a crossroads. Does it carry on in the same direction or does it try a different path that grabs our attention more frequently? In a world that is getting hotter, more demanding, distracted and fractious, can it even risk not changing course? Or does it remember that nothing makes the world stop like an Olympics, chill out and press on?

So many questions and so many options — seven, in fact, for this election.

Earlier this month, The Athletic spoke to one of them, Kirsty Coventry, the two-time Olympic swimming champion from Zimbabwe, the only woman in the race and the youngest candidate. If the 41-year-old wins the vote at the IOC’s 144th Session in Pylos, Greece, she will become the IOC’s first female leader and its youngest. She would also be the first from outside Europe or North America.

There are no polls for an election like this but seasoned IOC watchers believe Coventry is one of three frontrunners alongside Lord Sebastian Coe, the British double Olympic track champion, and Juan Antonio Samaranch, a Spanish investment banker and veteran sports administrator whose father was the IOC’s seventh president.

Our interview with Coventry was wide-ranging, so we edited it for length but kept the essence of what is a compelling pitch for one of the biggest jobs in sport.

The Athletic: One of the big stories at the Paris Games last summer was the controversy surrounding Algeria’s boxing gold medallist Imane Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting, who were banned by the sport’s suspended international federation for reportedly failing gender-eligibility tests but then cleared to fight by the IOC. There is no evidence that either of them is transgender but they became lightning rods in the debate about transgender athletes and women’s sport. What would you do to avoid a storm like that blowing up again?

Coventry: The international federations have had the major role in the rules around transgender athletes. I think the IOC should bring everyone into a room and hash it out. For some international federations, like equestrian, men and women compete against each other, so it’s not high on their agenda, but the IOC needs to take a leading role. I don’t think we need to redo all the work that’s been done but we can learn from the international federations, come up with a framework and set up a task force that will look at this constantly and consistently. The overarching principle must be to protect the female category.

The Athletic: You are the only woman in this race. Is that important?

Coventry: Female leaders do bring different attributes, lessons learned and soft skills to the table — but I don’t want it to be the only thing that people focus on. I want to be the best person that people and members see leading our organisation, not a choice just based on gender.

The Athletic: Has the IOC been a bit slow to innovate in the past? Or should it be conservative?

Coventry: Because we’re such a historic organisation, we need to protect that history, right? But if we want to remain relevant, we’re going to have to engage with people in a different manner. We’re going to have to use technology and youth lingo. We’re going to have to step outside of the box. We’ll stay true to our core values because they’re what make the Olympics unique, but let’s open up the possibilities of what sports could be in the Games or what the Games could look like in a completely different region.

When you’re coming to a moment of change like this, it’s the prime opportunity to hit pause, look at where we’ve come from, reevaluate, reassess, get rid of the things that have served their purpose, and bring new things in.

The Athletic: Russia’s involvement has been highly contentious at recent Games because of their state-sponsored doping and then the invasion of Ukraine. The team has been banned, or partly banned, but individual athletes have been able to compete. How would you deal with this issue?

Coventry: There are conflicts all around the world. In Africa, we’re seeing more and more. I think we need a dedicated task force that looks at how best to support athletes in conflict areas. Ultimately, the IOC’s solidarity model is that we try to get every qualified athlete to the Games. But we have to look after athletes at an Olympic Games, too. We have to make sure they’re safe, so we need to come up with clear guidelines that will protect athletes from all countries.

I know when I was winning my medals, Zimbabwe was going through a very bad power struggle and it could have been very easy for the international sports community to say we’re not going to recognise your athletes. I had no say. Do I think athletes should be able to remain neutral? Yes. What we saw in Paris was, I believe, very fair. We said athletes from Belarus and Russia who had openly supported the war would not be invited. That comes back to the principle of trying to keep everyone at the Games safe, particularly as the environment is so high-stress.

Kirsty Coventry has served as an IOC member for eight years.

The Athletic: Donald Trump’s words and deeds are creating some waves around the world at the moment. With Los Angeles hosting the Summer Games in 2028, would it be easier for the IOC if he was less controversial?

Coventry: Yeah, obviously, but that’s not always going to be the case and communication is going to be key. The new IOC president, whoever comes in, will need to say: “Just a reminder, this was in the host contract, this is what we expect, these are our values, this is why we awarded the Games to you and we’re not going to compromise on x, y and z.”

While it’s not ideal, you’re always going to have politicians looking at sports events as a platform to get different messages across. We, the IOC, need to ensure we remain neutral, which is easier said than done, but the only way that we can remain neutral is by ensuring our integrity — and our values — are upheld. But Trump is a huge sports fan. A sitting president going to the Super Bowl, for example, and I know he’s already having great conversations with FIFA about the World Cup. He’s very excited about that and has mentioned three or four times already about how he brought the World Cup and Olympic Games to the U.S.. I was in Davos when he said that he’s delighted he’s going to be the president when they happen and wants them to be successes. Everything comes down to how we communicate. Early engagement will be the key.

The Athletic: What will the Olympics look like in a decade?

Coventry: I would hope we are still providing a platform for the best athletes in the world. We have an incredible amount of interest in the Games for 2036 and 2040 from new regions, which is exciting. It opens up the question of the timing of the Games and I think we need to be proactive about that, both summer and winter. We’ve already had to make adjustments for certain events — the marathon in Tokyo, for instance. Let’s have these conversations now instead of waiting for the climate to push us into a corner where we have to make rushed decisions.

Do we need to remain steadfast on when we hold the Games? I think we have to start that conversation to open up new regions and countries, but also just to tackle climate change. We’re seeing that happen quicker with the Winter Games. We know the snow is falling later and summers are hotter.

When you talk about the future, you’ve got to think about the sports programme. What sports are going to be there? How are we going to analyse that? Should it just be based on history or should it be about what people are watching? We need to find a balance. You can’t go all one way or you’ll end up with a Games where sports come in and out constantly. But the future is exciting because we’re going to have all of these conversations. And the IOC can make all of these decisions on its own, it needs to involve all stakeholders.

The Athletic: Could the IOC be a bit more radical with the Winter Olympics programme? Why is it only snow and ice?

Coventry: I was just having this conversation with the European Olympic Committee a few days ago. Everyone was asking, “What made it like this?” and “Why have we boxed ourselves in?” This goes back to my previous points about the conversations I’ve been having with IOC members. They’ve been so awesome because the members are thinking outside the box and saying, “What if we forgot everything we know and were really imaginative?” Some of it won’t work but there will be some things that will add value.

If we’re going to deliver more finance to athletes and federations, we have to grow our revenues. We’ve got to identify and open up new opportunities for the movement. Is that new sports? New regions? New ways of doing things? That’s what I’m most excited about.

The Athletic: Is one of those opportunities going direct to consumers via an Olympic streaming platform?

Coventry: I’m not sure we’re quite there yet but I would like to push us a little bit more towards that. If you look at the NBA’s deal in the United States, that was a really innovative way of trying to bring in these new platforms. In Africa, you’re going to have over half a billion young people in the next two or three years. How are we reaching them? They’re not watching linear TV; they’re on their phones. That has to be a conversation with our existing broadcast partners. Our rights are locked in until 2032 but we should have those conversations about the future now.

One thing I would love to do is bring our top broadcasters around the table, with our top sponsors, to really hear what they want from us and ask them “How do we grow this thing together?” I would like for us to look at how we’re going to embrace these streaming platforms. The NBA has found a pretty good way of doing it. The NFL, too. My family were among those millions who watched the Christmas games on Netflix. So there are ways of doing it. We’ve just got to be brave enough to have those conversations. It can be scary but I do think there’s a balance that can be found.

(A few days after this interview, the IOC shook hands on a four-year extension to its most important media rights deal with American media giant Comcast, worth $3billion. The new agreement has been described as a “strategic partnership” and it will keep the Olympics on NBC and its Peacock streaming service until 2036. Making it official will be one of the new president’s first jobs.)

The Athletic: You mentioned new regions, can we assume we are talking about the Gulf?

Coventry: Well, for 2036, we’ve potentially got the Gulf, yes, but we’ve also got India, Egypt, South Africa and maybe a bid from South America. So there are a number of countries that have never hosted an Olympics. If countries come to us and say they’re interested, our future hosting commission starts a targeted dialogue with them. It’s really exciting to see what’s possible.

THE CANDIDATES

Prince Feisal al Hussein: Jordanian royalty, the 61-year-old has been an IOC member for 15 years. He is the founder of Generations for Peace, a charity that uses sport to help young people in conflict zones.

Lord Sebastian Coe: Now 68, the Englishman had a glittering career on the track, winning four Olympic medals, including back-to-back 1500m titles in 1980 and 1984. His main job over the last decade has been running World Athletics.

Kirsty Coventry: Born and raised in Harare, Coventry swam at her first Games in 2000 when she was still in high school. She won seven individual Olympic medals, dominating the 200m backstroke, at the next two Games. She has been Zimbabwe’s minister of sport since 2018.

Johan Eliasch: The Swedish-British investor has been involved in sport ever since he bought tennis and ski kit manufacturer Head in 1995. In 2021, he was elected president of the International Ski Federation (FIS) and became an IOC member last year.

David Lappartient: A chartered surveyor turned local politician, the 51-year-old became an IOC member in 2022 and president of the French Olympic Committee a year later. A key figure in bringing the Winter Games to the French Alps in 2030, he is also the chair of the IOC’s esports group.

Juan Antonio Samaranch: One of four vice presidents, the 64-year-old Samaranch has been an IOC member since 2001. His link to the Olympics, however, is via his father, also called Juan Antonio Samaranch, who ran the IOC from 1980 to 2001.

Morinari Watanabe: A former gymnast and gymnastics coach, the 66-year-old Japanese businessman has been the president of the International Gymnastics Federation since 2017. He became an IOC member a year later and was on the executive board of Tokyo 2020’s organising committee. – The Athletic