COSTA NAVARINO, Greece (AP) — After having fun with a stunning election win comes the sober enterprise of main the Worldwide Olympic Committee for Kirsty Coventry.
The primary lady president elected within the IOC’s 131-year historical past started Friday in a breakfast assembly with Thomas Bach to begin their transition. The formal handover is on Olympic Day, June 23.
They agreed Coventry will take priority in main IOC selections within the subsequent three months.
The 41-year-old sports activities minister of Zimbabwe will quickly resign her authorities place and plans to maneuver along with her household in April to the Olympic dwelling metropolis, Lausanne in Switzerland.
Right here’s a take a look at a number of the points forward:
Equality for girls
Coventry’s victory is the most important assertion of Bach’s constant insurance policies to advertise ladies in Olympic sports activities and politics.
Can the following layer beneath the IOC — governing our bodies of Olympic sports activities, nationwide Olympic committees — additionally make progress? “You understand that there’s nonetheless lots to do,” Bach stated on Friday.
He famous that from subsequent month simply a type of sports activities could have a girl president: IOC member Petra Sörling in desk tennis.
Coventry has pledged to guard ladies’s sports activities and athletes. She defined on Friday how because the sports activities minister in Zimbabwe she eliminated the nationwide soccer federation’s board after ladies referees reported being sexually harassed.
It helped to push FIFA to suspend Zimbabwean soccer citing authorities interference within the sport and he or she has no remorse.
“There are specific issues near my coronary heart that I’ll by no means tolerate,” she stated.
Coventry needs the IOC to take “extra of a number one function” on gender eligibility and can create a taskforce to research the difficulty. The newly recognized World Boxing physique, which was not concerned within the Paris Olympics, is individually updating its guidelines this 12 months.
India’s ambition
A win for Coventry appears favorable towards being an final victory for India and its influential IOC member Nita Ambani. The 2 ladies are reportedly shut.
The Ambani family, the richest in Asia, hosted the IOC annual assembly in 2023 in Mumbai that promoted ambitions for India to host the Summer season Video games.
A key choice for the Coventry-led IOC is discovering a bunch for 2036. One rival to India is Qatar, whose ruling Emir has been an IOC member for twenty-four years, and which has been overlooked 3 times earlier than.
An announcement anticipated quickly is to verify India’s first top-tier Olympic sponsorship that was all but promised last August in Paris. There, Ambani hosted a hospitality house to advertise Indian tradition and sports activities.
There is no such thing as a set timetable for a choice on 2036. Bach’s signature coverage on selecting hosts ended an period of blockbuster campaigns and contested votes.
Now, a well-liked bid that successfully and discreetly lobbies the IOC might be fast-tracked into unique negotiations.
Athlete advantages
It’s unclear how and when athletes may get a greater deal throughout the IOC’s strict business guidelines. They’ve lengthy protected exclusivity for rights-holding Olympic broadcasters and sponsors.
One in every of Coventry’s overwhelmed election rivals, Sebastian Coe, leads World Athletics. It broke an Olympic taboo by paying $50,000 prize money for track and field champions in Paris final 12 months. In Los Angeles in 2028, silver and bronze medalists additionally will probably be rewarded.
Coe stated his election pledges for athletes would come with “sharing their information, giving them higher entry to sponsorships, and being extra liberal, and ensuring the (Olympic) model was extra accessible to them.”
The election runner-up, Juan Antonio Samaranch, promised letting athletes use clips of their Olympic performances and assist them be social media influencers.
Coventry didn’t have these sorts of concepts in her election platform, nor superior them when she represented athletes on the IOC government board from 2018-21.
Nonetheless, she pledged to work with election rivals to see which of their insurance policies could make progress.
Russia return?
There is no such thing as a apparent path for the IOC to elevate its suspension of Russia’s Olympic body whereas 4 regional sports activities councils in jap Ukraine stay underneath Russian management.
Nonetheless, Vladimir Putin is already engaged on the brand new IOC president, providing “honest congratulations” on her win.
“The outcomes of the vote convincingly attest to your excessive authority within the sporting world and the popularity of your excellent private achievements,” learn an announcement to Coventry from the Kremlin.
The 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Video games open subsequent February with the IOC excluding Russia from crew sports activities — together with Putin’s favourite ice hockey — because the invasion of Ukraine. Particular person Russian athletes could compete in Paris final 12 months in the event that they handed vetting as neutrals.
Future presidents?
The following IOC management election is in 2033, although the following emptiness with a contested race might be 12 years away in 2037. Coventry could be solely 53 on reaching her time period restrict.
Projecting far into the Olympic future, Tony Estanguet rejoined the IOC membership on Friday aged 46. He has clear potential after organizing the profitable Paris Olympics.
If Coventry’s successor is to be a girl, Princess Reema Bandar al Saud might contend. She has been Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US since 2019 and joined the IOC one 12 months later.
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AP Olympics at https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
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