Several elements come together to make me suitable. Primarily, as a two-time Olympic champion, I possess a distinctive viewpoint, having progressed through the athlete commission and gained comprehensive knowledge of the Olympic movement from within. Athletes often don’t realise the vast number of dedicated individuals working tirelessly behind the scenes to deliver the Games, so having this broad understanding is vital.
Transitioning from the athlete commission to leadership positions within the movement has enhanced my perspective further. I’ve participated in steering the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, Brisbane 2032, served on the Finance Commission, and chaired the Games Optimisation Working Group. Additionally, I’ve held the vice presidency for international surfing and gained experience in politics and my professional life at home. Though I hadn’t planned on entering politics, it’s proved valuable in managing complex systems, something I’ve handled since my competitive years.
Furthermore, my personal story and the Olympic Games’ transformative effect on my life are significant. They provided me with American university education, Olympic medals, and enabled me to return to my divided homeland, where I could use my achievements to promote unity. I’ve witnessed directly how sport can dissolve boundaries.
Here is the full interview that Ms Coventry gave to renowned website ITG – Inside the Games:
If elected, how would your background bring something new?
As a woman and someone younger than many of the other candidates, it provides an opportunity for the movement to stay relevant and to show that we truly are a global organisation. I want to help better connect with the audiences we’re trying to serve through the Olympic Games. I’m also genuinely excited about this journey so far. Just the fact that I am running is a huge achievement. Now, we’ll see how the next few days unfold, but I’m looking forward to what comes next.
How will you ensure the Olympic movement stays relevant, particularly in evolving sports?
The media landscape is evolving rapidly. For example, when we signed the host city contract with Brisbane 2032, we needed a huge space for the Olympic Broadcasting Centre. Now, just a few years later, we would need only half that space. In just a few years, it’s incredible to see how technology is moving. We have to embrace this change. The way we communicate needs to be youthful and engaging. I truly believe that young people want to engage with us, but we have to speak their language, be in tune with how they connect.
Everything young people do today is on their phones, so how can the Olympic movement embrace this shift and reach today’s nine-year-olds? We need to find ways to use technology that can identify young talent worldwide and link them with top coaches or nutritionists.
I also want to focus on expanding our reach into new regions. Africa, for example, is one of the youngest continents in the world, with a population that will soon be half a billion or even 800 million people under the age of 35. How do we access these young people? How do we engage them and inspire them through our platform and values? In today’s world, values seem to be fading, but the Olympic movement has the power to showcase that despite our differences, whether in background, sport, or language, we are more alike than we are different. For me, that is a key focus moving forward.
What specific changes do you believe the IOC needs to make?
First, whenever there’s significant change, it’s important to pause, reflect on what has been done, and assess what needs to continue, improve, or be phased out. We need to identify what has served its purpose and what may no longer be relevant.
This reflection will impact multiple areas, such as strengthening National Olympic Committees (NOCs). Growing up in Zimbabwe and living in the US, I’ve seen the vast differences between large and small NOCs. We need to find ways to bridge those gaps, especially since many NOCs, while professional, are often underfunded and under-resourced.
When it comes to athletes, how can we provide better support at earlier stages of their journeys? For me, Olympic Solidarity grants were pivotal in helping me pursue my dreams, but the most difficult part of my journey was before I won medals. Once an athlete reaches that level, opportunities tend to open up, but we need to ensure the journey leading up to that point is less challenging. How can we make sure athletes receive the support they need before they reach the podium?
There’s also the ongoing conversation about sports programs and events. With sports being added and removed from the Games, the entire Olympic ecosystem needs to be carefully considered and adjusted. It’s important to have an open discussion with all stakeholders, so we can collectively determine the future direction of the IOC.
Ultimately, it’s about inspiring the next generation of Olympians, accessing new regions, and growing the revenue required to continue delivering the Games in the global economy.
What’s your stance on including eSports and niche disciplines in the Olympics?
We have to be open to it, but we have to ensure that our guiding principles and our values are never compromised. So when we were looking at eSports, I think it’s an incredible opportunity for us to learn from athletes in eSports and for them to learn about us and for us again to share our values with them and our ethos. When we look at new, more popular sports that we’ve already bringing in, so whether it’s breakdancing, climbing, surfing, how are we doing that? Are we doing that in a sustainable manner? What does that look like for the international federations? Because to bring sports in and out of the programme really isn’t, I think, a good idea for the sports.
And how do we walk that next strategy? Because we have to acknowledge that young people are potentially more interested in younger, more youthful sports, so it’s really going to be about how do we include them and what does that look like? But again, never veering from the values of the Olympic Games.
How will you balance financial growth with the Olympic movement’s core values?
I think it’s about finding ways to ensure that we are first and foremost looking after our stakeholders to deliver incredible multi-sport events at the highest level. Yes, this requires more money, and we must find ways to make it sustainable. For example, when approaching host cities now, we’re fitting the model to match what they already have. We’re no longer demanding that new venues be built, because that’s just not viable anymore. This shift helps grow revenue while controlling costs.
There are good costs, like supporting federations, NOCs, and athlete development. Then there are bad costs, which we’ll always have a small percentage of, but we aim to minimise them. Finally, there are ugly costs, those that are no longer relevant today. We need to remove these from the books so we have more flexibility to invest in what truly matters.
How would your leadership differ from that of Thomas Bach?
I learned from a young age that I needed to rely on people and have a strong team around me. Teamwork is essential, and being able to lean on members with incredible experience has been invaluable. Over the last few months, it’s been amazing talking to everyone individually and gaining a better understanding of the experience and knowledge they bring.
It’s about leveraging that collective experience. How can we harness the knowledge of all our members and stakeholders in today’s world? I’ve had the opportunity to bring our top partners together to discuss how they’re entering new regions and what technology they’re embracing. These are the kinds of conversations that matter.
Regarding previous corruption scandals, what measures would you implement to increase transparency and accountability?
Transparency and good governance is everything because it comes down to that’s our integrity. So if we want to grow revenue, if we want to bring new hosts to the table, they are only going to come if they really believe that we are transparent and that we are leading by example and we’re doing things in the correct manner.
It’s going to take revisiting and relooking at our policies that are there, strengthening the ones that need to be strengthened, because, again, our relevance leans on it, right? If we are not making good decisions and there’s no transparency, we’re going to bring less people to the table to want to be partners.
Is the IOC’s stance on boxing driven by governance concerns or a political conflict with the IBA?
I would like to see boxing remain in the Olympic Games. The sport is a very important part of our Olympic history. Our first priority must always be the athletes. Everything else is secondary in comparison to the interests of the athletes. It is the athletes who suffer most when there are divisions within a sport, and it is the athletes whom I will be thinking about as we try to work towards a solution that will keep boxing in the Olympic Games.
What’s your overall take on the transgender issue, regarding future Games?
Right now, the sort of overall control of rules and regulations sits with the international federations as was decided by the IOC a few years ago. For me now, I think the IOC should take a bit more of a leading role in coming up with a framework that protects the female category.
I do believe we should do that with the international federations. There are some sports where this conversation is really not relevant. In equestrian, you have men and women competing against each other. So it’s not really here nor there. But in most of the other sports, they have really done an incredible job of looking at their specific sport when it comes to medical and scientific research, and they’ve come up with their rules and regulations. I don’t think the IOC needs to rewrite anything or redo work that’s already done. I think we can bring the international federations together and all agree on a common framework that will move us forward.
But it is really important for me to protect the female category. We’re not having a discussion around how transgender athletes are disadvantaging the male category. So I would propose also having a working group where this core group of people would also consistently monitor and look at all the evidence and have athletes, male, female and transgender athletes. So everyone has a voice. And if we see in the future that there potentially is not as big of a disadvantage to the female category, then we could always look at it. But for right now, my belief is that there is a disadvantage.
How would you handle controversies over Israel’s role and Russia’s possible reinstatement in the Olympics?
I think above anything else, it’s our duty as the IOC to ensure that all athletes can participate at the Games. It’s not just the bigger wars and the conflicts that are happening in Europe and the Middle East: there are wars and conflicts in Africa. How are we going to protect these athletes and support them?
I know from my own personal story. My country was going through internal turmoil in 2004 during the Olympic Games and I look at that and say where would my life have been if we were not allowed to take part. So I’m grateful that I was not held accountable for what the leaders and governments were doing.
I think there are always sensitivities that have to be taken into consideration, as we did for Paris 2024. But again, what needs to be done is we need to acknowledge that, sadly, there are more and more conflicts. If I am elected IOC president, I will set up a working group that is tasked with drawing up a set of guidelines to help us navigate these periods of conflict, with the athletes interests being the priority.
How would you strengthen representation in Olympic governance?
Being part of the Athlete Commission, and eventually chairing it, is something that is very close to my heart. We were entrusted with an incredible responsibility by the athletes to represent their thoughts, feelings, and expectations to the IOC, and it’s something we must continue to uphold.
We need to strengthen the NOC Athlete Commissions so there’s a stronger filter for feedback. How do we ensure this feedback flows downward? How do we empower continental associations and NOCs to better serve athletes and, in turn, elevate the athletes’ voices on a global scale?
It’s not just about one or two big, formal commissions; it’s about ensuring solidarity across all levels and ensuring that every athlete’s voice is heard. Strengthening these structures is a key focus for me.
What steps would you take to make the Olympic Games more sustainable?
Paris did an incredible job, though I don’t have all the specific figures, they have been praised for their sustainability efforts. Part of the focus of the Games Optimisation Working Group is to identify successful practices from each Games and package them for re-use in future Games. We’re already looking ahead to Los Angeles, Brisbane, Milano Cortina, and the French Alps, where sustainability is a critical topic.
For me, the key is collaboration. We must ensure we’re not shifting the burden to different stakeholders, but rather working together to eliminate excessive costs and reduce our carbon footprint. This is not something one stakeholder can tackle alone, it requires a collective approach. Effective communication is essential, and we should leverage the knowledge we already have.
It’s not about reinventing the wheel; it’s about taking what has worked in Paris and applying those lessons to the specific needs and context of cities like LA, Milano Cortina, and others.
How would you make hosting the Olympics more appealing for future cities?
I think the growing interest in hosting the Games in 2036 and 2040 puts us in a very strong position. We’re seeing interest from many new regions, which presents both opportunities and challenges. The current process of selecting host cities is already making great strides by encouraging open dialogue with these cities. The IOC is sharing the impact the Games will have, not only during the event but also in terms of the required infrastructure.
This open dialogue helps potential host cities better understand the demands and allows them to plan accordingly. They can see where the future of their cities and countries is heading and make strategic investments in sports and infrastructure. I think the Future Host Commission is working well in this regard.
Returning to the topic of transparency, I believe we need to ensure that all members are fully included and kept up to date throughout the process. I would advocate for the Future Host Commission to engage with members more frequently, updating them on ongoing discussions and giving them opportunities to ask questions. This involvement is key, as the IOC membership has always played a major role in the decision-making process.
