In 2004, Kirsty Coventry made history when she became the first from her country to win an Olympic gold. Twenty-one years later, the Zimbabwean swimming legend returns to the country of her famous exploits, Greece, hoping to rewrite the history books again — by becoming the first woman to head the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Ahead of the IOC elections on March 20, Coventry — one of the seven candidates in the race — spoke to Mihir Vasavda about the various challenges faced by the Olympic movement, from climate to gender issues and the possible impact of decisions taken by the Trump administration.
Excerpts from an interview:
Q: In a world as conflicted as we are living in right now, where do the Olympic Games stand?
Kirsty Coventry: They have to stand as a beacon of inspiration. The world is increasingly becoming more complex, more divided. You have very big conflicts on just about every continent. And we have to be able to showcase the best of humanity. And I do believe the Olympic Games does that. The reason why I wanted to run (for IOC presidency) was because it’s changed my life. My country went through a lot of different things when I was competing, and I was able to see how my dream – when I was nine years old – of going to the Olympic Games brought together an entire country. It united watching our cricket team in the late 1990s, early 2000s go out and win. It made us so proud.
Q: The outgoing president, Thomas Bach, was faced with decisions regarding Israel, Palestine, Russia, Ukraine… It’s the same situation that the next person will be inheriting. Do you have a plan on how to tackle those issues?
Kirsty Coventry: What I would like to do, if successful, is be able to set up specific working groups that are really going to look at some of the top priorities for our movement. One of those being conflict areas and how we are going to support and protect athletes from these areas. But at the end of the day, it’s also about ensuring that when athletes come to the Games, we’re not going to add additional pressure or additional potential for there to be big conflicts. We don’t want an athlete feeling unsafe in the Olympic Village. So we have to take all of these things into consideration.
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Only woman in fray
Kirsty Coventry is the only woman in a field of seven candidates. However, the 41-year-old is seen as one of the favourites, along with Britain’s Sebastian Coe and Spaniard Juan Antonio Samaranch Junior. If successful, Coventry would make history by becoming the first woman to lead the Olympic movement in the 130 years of its existence. Olympic observers say she is outgoing president Thomas Bach’s ‘favourite’ successor. However, World Athletics chief Coe — with his vast administrative experience — and Samaranch — son of a former IOC president — are seen as major challengers. The elections will be held in Greece on March 20.
Q: Given the current situation in the US, with some of the decisions taken by President Donald Trump, how challenging will it be to deliver a successful Los Angeles Olympics in 2028?
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Kirsty Coventry: First and foremost, I think President Trump is a huge supporter of sport. He loves his golf. He loves his tennis. We just saw him at the Super Bowl. I don’t believe any other sitting president has attended the Super Bowl. So that is very positive for us. He’s also mentioned numerous times how he was proud to have been the President to be awarded the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games. And now, by a stroke of ‘luck’, I think those were his words, he’s back there while these two important sporting events happen. That gives me a lot of confidence that we will be able to have conversations with him directly about our values and our principles and our host-city contract, which has been signed.
That this is what makes the Games unique, that everyone who is qualified for the Olympic Games, has access to the Olympic Games. These conversations will be a top priority to have early on in my presidency. But I have a lot of faith that he is a huge supporter of sport and will want to see the success of the Olympic Games. And we will need to be, again, very strong that these are our values. These are our principles. This is what had been agreed. And we’re going to work to ensure that all athletes who qualify for the Olympic Games in L.A. will be competing in L.A.
Q: In terms of values and principles, is there any particular point that keeps you up at night, specifically when it comes to the LA Games?
Kirsty Coventry: I have no concerns they won’t be respected, but I do think whenever we are approaching the Games, we have to be strong in ensuring that these values and principles are not ever going to be asked of us to compromise, because we’re never going to compromise them. For me, anyway, they’re not compromise-able.
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Q: An issue likely to be hotly debated in the build-up to the LA Games and beyond is the participation of trans athletes or athletes with high testosterone levels in women’s events. Where do you stand on those issues?
Kirsty Coventry: Initially we, as the IOC, had tasked that to the International Federations. That’s how it sits right now. The International Federations, with their science and medical research teams and their qualification processes, decide on the genders that compete within their sports. I know and understand that for some sports, like equestrian, male and female athletes compete together, so this conversation is probably not super- relevant for them, but for the majority of Olympic sports, Summer and Winter, the conversation is very topical.
While it was the right decision at the time for the IOC to give that responsibility to the International Federations, now it’s time to sit down with the International Federations and hear from them what their decisions are and how they made them.
Most of them did use medical and scientific research, but I believe it’s time for us to take a bit of a stronger stance in saying that we are going to fully protect the female category. When I say that, it does not mean I don’t believe everyone should have access to sport. But when it comes to high-level competition and competing at the Olympic Games, right now there should only be two categories – male and female – and I believe the IOC should take a leading role based on conversations with the International Federations.
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Q: The IOC has said that for India to be successful in its bid to host the 2036 Olympics, it will be important that the Indian Olympic Association gets its house in order. What are your views on the situation in the IOA, if you have been following it?
Kirsty Coventry: It’s been part of the role of being an Executive Board member, to keep a tab on all the NOCs (National Olympic Committees) and where they are and what’s happening. At the end of the day, we need strong NOCs that have good governance and transparency and are working well for the development of their sports and for the Olympic movement within the country. There have been National Olympic committees that have gone through different times and hard times. And as the IOC, we are there to support them.
Q: We’re at a time when the world is witnessing record high temperatures and the last two Summer Olympics were negatively impacted because of it. Do you think the hosting window of the Games – currently set in July-August – will need to be reconsidered going forward?
Kirsty Coventry: I think the Winter and the Summer Games, both are going to be impacted by climate. We are already seeing that. We should be proactive and have those conversations now about, are we going to look at having more flexibility with potential future hosts and the timing that they are able to deliver Games, especially when it comes to the Winter Games where climate is sadly impacting those Games a little bit more negatively than the Summer right now. But let’s not wait for the traditional months in the summer to get so hot that we’re trying to run around at the last minute. Let’s have the conversation now and try and find sustainable ways to allow discussions around the flexibility of dates and the delivery of the Games. It’s very important and we have to have it.