The Next IOC President

[krow]

59 minutes ago, Bear said:

you being from belgium suddenly makes sense now

are you saying leopold II was NOT african? he was sovereign king of the congo and the last i checked, that WAS IN AFRICA.

are you truly saying a belgian king can't be african? how very racist. and yet you claim to dislike racism. strange!

[StefanMUC]

6 hours ago, krow said:

her lived experience is white rhodesian, which is only african in a purely geographic sense. there is nothing culturally african about it. (i imagine you would discover that pretty quickly if you asked any africans who weren't white, which is nearly all of them). your inability to make that distinction as you reach for terms you don't really understand is telling.

it's clear you share kirsty's incredible exceptionalism and superiority complex. 

i do too but mine is a bit more earned: i've read more than you and i'm an excellent writer!

The same people that would let Coventry getting away with claiming to be a trailblazer for Africans would probably still call 3rd or 4th generation immigrants in their own country Turks/Arabs/Congolese and not Belgians (or French/German/etc.).

That, actually, is racism.

[AustralianFan]

New IOC president: Task force will examine ‘transgender issue’

Bravo.  The new IOC President was speaking at her post-election Press Conference.

From The Hill:    

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Thursday it would investigate “the transgender issue” of sports participation in the 2028 games, which are slated to take place in Los Angeles.

“As I just said, we’re going to create a task force that’s going to look at the transgender issue and the protection of the female category,” newly elected IOC President Kirsty Coventry said during a press briefing.

“And we, once we’ve made the decision collectively as the IOC, with the international federations, that decision will be made very clear, and we won’t move from that decision,” she added.

Coventry was elected to serve as the IOC leader in the first pass of voting on Thursday, making history as the first woman and first African to hold the post.

She’s pledged to work alongside President Trump to address intergender athletic concerns on a broad scale. Trump has signed a series of executive orders outlawing transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports, striking gender-affirming care for service members and declaring the country only recognizes two sexes: male and female.

“I think there’s a number of different challenges that we’re going to face as the Olympic movement, and we’re going to tackle those together. So, in terms of Donald Trump,again, it’s going to take communication,” she said during the briefing.

Coventry notably oversaw a dispute over gender eligibility at last year’s Paris games with female boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu Ting.

Both athletes, born female, earned gold medals following their performances. They were previously disqualified from competing in the 2023 World Championships by the International Boxing Association after tests conducted found they “failed to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women’s competition.” Notably, they did not undergo a testosterone examination.

The Zimbabwean who oversaw the IOC executive board investigation of the matter will now hold the position of president for a mandated eight years, with her tenure set to expire in 2033. 

She’s a former Olympic swimmer who competed in a total of five games prior to being elected as an IOC member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission in 2013, according to the Olympics website. 

[AustralianFan]

On 3/21/2025 at 12:35 AM, cfm Jeremie said:

Have you seen Anita during the session?

I don’t think she is in condition to chair a commission, especially one that implies a lot of travel.

 

On 3/21/2025 at 2:29 AM, baron-pierreIV said:

Nah.  Anita's way too old for a job that -- as jeremie said -- will require a lot of travel.  There is Mikaela Cojuangco-Jaworski of the Philippines.  Brisbane is in the same time zone as her home base of Manila, so I'd say, travel-wise, that wouldn't be much of a challenge for Mrs. Jaworski.  

Anita Defrantz is doing it already and has already long been the Vice-Chair of the Brisbane 2032 Coordination Commission.   

[cfm Jeremie]

1 hour ago, AustralianFan said:

 

Anita Defrantz is doing it already and has already long been the Vice-Chair of the Brisbane 2032 Coordination Commission.   

Doing what?
 

As vice-chair of the Coordination Commission she is yet to travel to Brisbane (so far only Kirsty Coventry and IOC admin have been to Brisbane). First visit of the Coordination Commission is in a few weeks so we will see whether she travels (I hope for her she can do it). The CoCon chair travels much more often than the rest of the CoCom members to meet OCOG and public partners outside of CoCom official visits.

Again, since you chose to ignore question, have you seen Anita Defrantz during the Session this week? I wish her all the best but I highly doubt that she could take over the position of chair woman of the Brisbane CoCom.

[Rob2012]

From the article @StefanMUC posted in the Russia thread:

https://news.sky.com/story/incoming-ioc-president-to-open-talks-on-russias-potential-return-to-olympics-13333288

"What I was proposing is to bring a group together with the international federations and really understand each sport is slightly different.

"We know in equestrian, sex is really not an issue, but in other sports it is.

"So what I'd like to do again is bring the international federations together and sit down and try and come up with a collective way forward for all of us to move."

My feeling has always been this should be dealt with at IF level (not at IOC Presidential level, and certainly not at US Presidential level ) for the reasons she states in the first two sentences. Her third sentence, completely contradicts what she just said in those first two, doesn't it? 

Edited March 22 by Rob2012

[AustralianFan]

6 hours ago, cfm Jeremie said:

Doing what?
 

As vice-chair of the Coordination Commission she is yet to travel to Brisbane (so far only Kirsty Coventry and IOC admin have been to Brisbane). First visit of the Coordination Commission is in a few weeks so we will see whether she travels (I hope for her she can do it). The CoCon chair travels much more often than the rest of the CoCom members to meet OCOG and public partners outside of CoCom official visits.

Again, since you chose to ignore question, have you seen Anita Defrantz during the Session this week? I wish her all the best but I highly doubt that she could take over the position of chair woman of the Brisbane CoCom.

That’s your opinion and you’re entitled to it.

I’ll wait to see if Anita Defrantz covers the Chairperson’s role in the interim or permanently.   

[baron-pierreIV]

How about the issue of transgender horses?  🫢 When will that be brought up?? 

[AustralianFan]

6 hours ago, cfm Jeremie said:

Doing what?
 

As vice-chair of the Coordination Commission she is yet to travel to Brisbane (so far only Kirsty Coventry and IOC admin have been to Brisbane). First visit of the Coordination Commission is in a few weeks so we will see whether she travels (I hope for her she can do it). The CoCon chair travels much more often than the rest of the CoCom members to meet OCOG and public partners outside of CoCom official visits.

Again, since you chose to ignore question, have you seen Anita Defrantz during the Session this week? I wish her all the best but I highly doubt that she could take over the position of chair woman of the Brisbane CoCom.

 

4 minutes ago, AustralianFan said:

That’s your opinion and you’re entitled to it.

I’ll wait to see if Anita Defrantz covers the Chairperson’s role in the interim or permanently.   

The complete list of members of the IOC Coordination Commission Brisbane 2032 are below and I’ll leave the selection of the Chair’s replacement either in the interim or permanently to the new IOC President.

Chair

• Kirsty COVENTRY

Vice Chair

• Anita L. DEFRANTZ

Members

• Princess Reema Bandar AL-SAUD
• Girmay Dagmawit BERHANE
• William Frederick BLICK
• Mikaela COJUANGCO JAWORSKI
• Balázs FÜRJES
• Octavian MORARIU
• Federica PELLEGRINI
• Camilo PEREZ LOPEZ MOREIRA
• Auvita RAPILLA
• Jean-Christophe ROLLAND
• Baklai TEMENGIL
• Tayyab IKRAM
• Duane KALE

Ex-officio member

• James CARR
• Colleen WRENN

Director in charge

• Olympic Games Executive Director

[krow]

1 hour ago, Rob2012 said:

My feeling has always been this should be dealt with at IF level (not at IOC Presidential level, and certainly not at US Presidential level ) for the reasons she states in the first two sentences. Her third sentence, completely contradicts what she just said in those first two, doesn't it? 

oh i dunno. collectively could just mean they all agree the federations make their own rules subject to IOC approval. knowing kirsty, i'm sure she'll want to insert herself at least somewhere in the process while distancing herself from actual accountability should there be future controversy. she always needs room to blame others, dodge responsibility, and talk about how she's 'looking into things.' also, the IFs have way more power over the IOC than they ever use if they act collectively; sure there's the money, but without the IFs there is no olympics.

it's so rife with hypocrisy, i should have written this in my IOC persona. 

[Sir Rols]

The Happy Couple

[AustralianFan]

Good to see the welcome IOC President-elect received Kirsty Coventry upon her return home to Zimbabwe.

From Associated Press - Canberra Times:

 

New IOC chief Coventry hailed on return to Zimbabwe

The new International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry has arrived home in Zimbabwe to a hero's welcome as her victory was celebrated as a national milestone.

The 41-year-old Coventry, who is also Zimbabwe's sports minister, was the only female candidate in the IOC presidency race and became the first woman and first African to be elected as head of the global Olympic movement. 

She beat six other candidates in the vote in Greece on Thursday, bringing joy to the southern African country which has faced years of isolation and sanctions by the United States and other Western nations.

"It's not just my success, it is our success. We broke down barriers," Coventry said in Zimbabwe.

Dancers in animal fur kilts and headgear made from bird feathers stomped the ground as part of a traditional African folklore dance to the sound of trumpets and drums to welcome Coventry home at an airport in the capital, Harare. 

Dozens of others, including female cricketers, young karatekas and children in school uniform cheered loudly.

"Men have dominated sport for so long, I am thrilled that one of our own is now at the very top where she can tackle the issues affecting women in sports," said Abigail Madera, a female boxing referee.

"This is not just a personal victory, it will put Zimbabwe on the global stage," said Women Affairs Minister Monica Mutsvangwa at the welcoming ceremony at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport.

Coventry is an ex-Zimbabwe swimmer and was the back-to-back Olympic champion in the 200m backstroke at the 2004 and 2006 Games. 

She retired from swimming after the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016 with seven Olympic medals and is the most decorated Olympian from Africa.

Coventry was widely praised in her country as a source of pride and a unifying figure during her swimming career.

Her decision to take the job of sports minister in 2018 has been scrutinised, though, given the Zimbabwean government has long been questioned over its human rights record and is regularly accused of clamping down on political opposition.

Critics in 2020 also accused Coventry of benefiting from political patronage after accepting a government lease on a farm that was seized during the country's often violent land reforms that evicted about 4000 white farmers for tens of thousands of Blacks more than two decades ago.

Many of those critics have welcomed her election and posted congratulatory messages.

Coventry has said she will resign from her Zimbabwe minister's job to move to the Olympic home city of Lausanne in Switzerland. Her eight-year term in charge of the IOC begins in June.

[AustralianFan]

President-elect Kirsty Coventry warmly received by IOC staff at Olympic House

Until the official IOC President handover ceremony on Olympic Day, 23 June 2025, Coventry will regularly visit Olympic House in Lausanne.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s President-elect, Kirsty Coventry, was warmly welcomed by IOC President Thomas Bach, IOC Director General Christophe De Kepper and IOC staff at Olympic House in Lausanne on 7 April.

When entering the building, the staff started a long and resounding round of applause for the President-elect. President Bach presented her with a bouquet of flowers. The entire staff joined the IOC President and President-elect for a group picture on the symbolic staircase of Olympic House.

Coventry’s first visit to Olympic House as President-elect was ahead of the IOC Executive Board meeting on Wednesday, 9 April 2025. This is part of the three-month transition from President Bach to President-elect Coventry.

Coventry is a double Olympic champion in swimming from Zimbabwe. She was elected as the 10th President of the IOC, and the first female President in IOC history, at the 144th IOC Session that was held in Costa Navarino, Greece, on 20 March 2025.

 Credit: Olympics.com

[Bear]

The Presidential Handover Ceremony will take place on June 23 at 11 AM CEST, which will see Thomas Bach officially pass the presidency to Kirsty Coventry. It will be live streamed on the IOC Media YouTube channel:

 

[StefanMUC]

So today is the day and no mention yet here of it?

Good riddance, Fencing 1976!

Not that I have much hope in Swimming 2004/2008 though…

[Sir Rols]

2 hours ago, StefanMUC said:

So today is the day and no mention yet here of it?

Good riddance, Fencing 1976!

Not that I have much hope in Swimming 2004/2008 though…

Yeah, surprising not much comment. But we’ve had huge drone strike waves of spam bots specifically targeting General Olympic Discussions over the past 12 hours, so maybe Uncle Vlad had unleashed the troll farms to dissuade attention from it. Not to mention that the Donald dominates the news cycle, as always.

Bye Bye Bach, I’m pretty sure you won’t be missed here. A whimpering end to one of the three great autocratic IOC presidencies after Brundage and Samaranch. Thing is, I considered Bach incompetent as well as autocratic.

We’ll wait and see, I guess, what Kiss Me Kirsty brings to the role, and if she grows beyond being Thomas’ Mini Me.

[yoshi]

Well, I thought this was interesting from Sean Ingle earlier today:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/jun/23/kirsty-coventry-ioc-international-olympic-committee-president-thomas-bach

He's usually both trustworthy & a bit cynical so I'd take this as encouraging. I feel cautiously optimistic tbh, with emphasis on both. We'll have to see what actually happens but she's saying a lot of the right things. There was a BBC article at the weekend that said she's already declined use of the Lausanne Palace hotel, which is a good start. I do get a sense (& very much hope) she won't just be Bach's puppet, there's too much steel there for that. 

Edited June 23 by yoshi

[AustralianFan]

 

Excellent speech by the President of the IOC, Kirsty Coventry.

[cfm Jeremie]

11 hours ago, yoshi said:

There was a BBC article at the weekend that said she's already declined use of the Lausanne Palace hotel, which is a good start. I do get a sense (& very much hope) she won't just be Bach's puppet, there's too much steel there for that. 

Well, she is the first IOC President with young children so hotel life was not really an option.

But I agree, she seems strong minded so I think the risk of her being manipulated is very low. This being said, the road to LA 28 will be a bumpy one so good luck to her!

[krow]

On 6/23/2025 at 12:18 PM, StefanMUC said:

Not that I have much hope in Swimming 2004/2008 though…

is there any evidence she is being introduced like this or was that just a weird quirk of bach's ego?

[StefanMUC]

4 hours ago, krow said:

is there any evidence she is being introduced like this or was that just a weird quirk of bach's ego?

So far this is just me ridiculing Bach‘s ego by spinning this further.

[AustralianFan]

First Actions by IOC President Coventry

Aside from moving quickly to pause and review the 2036 bidding process, IOC President Coventry has also announced:

(from The Guardian.com😞

• there is now “overwhelming support” among International Olympic Committee members to protect the female category in a significant shift in its gender eligibility policy.
• Coventry, who was chairing her first meetings as the IOC’s new president, said that a taskforce of scientists and international federations would be set up within weeks to come up with a new policy
• It follows the controversy around the Paris 2024 boxing tournament after two athletes – Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting – won gold medals despite having been disqualified from the previous year’s World Championships for allegedly failing to meet gender eligibility criteria.
• World Boxing, which has since been recognised by the IOC as the sport’s international federation, has introduced mandatory sex testing and said Khelif would not be able to compete in the female category until she undergoes the test. Khelif has always insisted she was born a woman, has lived as a woman and has competed as a woman.

[AustralianFan]

On 3/22/2025 at 10:45 AM, AustralianFan said:

Congratulations Kirsty Coventry.

Ignore the doomsayers and conspiracy theorists

 

On 3/22/2025 at 11:02 AM, sebastien1214 said:

It's not a competition to see who has the most posts on this forum, you know.

Sounds like you didn’t back the winner? If not, why such an uncalled for negative, sour grapes post about the historic election of the IOC’s first female President and Olympic Champion, Kirsty Coventry, the topic of this thread.

 

[sebastien1214]

2 hours ago, AustralianFan said:

 

Sounds like you didn’t back the winner? If not, why such an uncalled for negative, sour grapes post about the historic election of the IOC’s first female President and Olympic Champion, Kirsty Coventry, the topic of this thread.

 

What the hell is the point of bringing up a message I posted 7 months ago? Do you really have nothing to do with your days? I don't even know why you suddenly thought of me on this specific subject, Coventry has just been elected pope or just won a Nobel Prize?