Olympic Movements: what to expect from Kirsty Coventry as head of the IOC

On June 23, Zimbabwean sports official, politician and award-winning swimmer with a scattering of medals and records Kirsty Coventry will take over the post of president of the International Olympic Committee. What she will do first of all in the role of the head of the IOC, we tell you in the Izvestia article.

Another agenda

March 20, 2025, Athens, IOC presidential election. Coventry wins the first round of voting. There is no intrigue, everything goes on casually, as if according to a pre-written script.

The very next day, the elected but not yet inaugurated head of the IOC declares that she is against the ban on the participation of countries in the Olympic Games due to armed conflicts and will begin negotiations on the possible return of Russia to the Games.

— I would like to create a task force that will try to develop some rules and guidelines that we, the Olympic movement, could use to make decisions in case of conflicts. We have conflicts in Africa, and they are terrible at the moment. So it's not going to stop, unfortunately.

It was March. The topic of Russia was one of the main ones, along with, perhaps, the discussion of transgender people in women's sports, public markers that determined the agenda of the elections themselves, and the identity of the candidates. The issue of money (and in the IOC's activities it is always the most important thing in reality) was considered non-public, it is always preferred to hide behind brighter headlines. Somewhere on the periphery, the conflict between WADA and the United States was smoldering. But everything in this matter was under control, as the IOC forced the American NOC to sign a number of additional agreements for the OI-2034, and the IOC may terminate the contract for hosting the Olympics "in cases where the supreme authority of the World Anti-Doping Agency in the fight against doping is not fully respected or if the application of the World Anti-Doping Code is undermined.".

That's why Coventry was asked questions about Russia and transgender people, which she answered. It seemed that there would be no end to these questions, but only these, not others.

Conflict in the Middle East

Three months have passed. And there are completely different topics on the agenda, more precisely, one topic — the Iran-Israel conflict, which has overshadowed everything else, splitting the sports community as well.

Israeli athletes skip international tournaments, such as the World Judo Championships and the Junior World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships. And those of them who find themselves abroad cannot return home.

The Asian Gymnastics Union posts an obituary for an eight—year-old Iranian gymnast who died as a result of military operations, apparently forgetting that women's gymnastics and the regime that has existed in Iran since 1979 are poorly compatible things. The country does not have a single international license in either women's sports or rhythmic gymnastics, and it cannot be. Only a trampoline, where you can perform with your head covered and your ankles covered.

Anti—Israeli sentiments are so strong that the IOC's worst nightmare is becoming real - a repeat or an attempt to repeat the events in Munich in 1972, when Israeli wrestlers were killed. The world has split, and this crack is much stronger than the one that appeared in February 2022. First of all, because it also has a religious aspect, which has always been characteristic of the situation in the Middle East.

The Russian question

This is exactly the situation Kirsty Coventry finds herself in right now. And it is the solution of issues related to the consequences of all these events for world sports that everyone expects from her in the first place. It's not the Russian topic that occupies our minds, no. She has gone to the periphery at the moment. And, most likely, this does not bode well for us.

Since the focus of attention has shifted, the question can be paused for now. By the way, this is partly reflected in the situation in luge and biathlon. The decision that luge athletes would definitely not be allowed to participate in the 2026 Olympics was made on June 18, and the biathletes have not even discussed the issue yet. Statements have been made that the IOC will not consider admission until the fall, but the reality is that there are now issues that the organization is looking forward to resolving. How, for example, to ensure that Israeli athletes have the right to participate in the same Olympic Games if they miss the qualifying starts? How can we give the Iranians the same opportunity? And it doesn't even matter that both countries were represented at the Winter Olympics, if at all, by extremely small delegations.

In the last couple of years of his leadership, Thomas Bach has talked a lot about the IOC peacekeeping mission, arguing for it, among other things, "protective measures" against Russian and Belarusian athletes. Coventry will now have to do more than talk — they expect her to do this in Asia in general, and in the Middle East in particular.

And Russia? Well, the IOC has issued recommendations on admission. Then it's up to the international federations to decide. And, judging by the decision of the International Luge Federation, no one in the IOC will mind if Russian athletes in some sports are not allowed to participate in the 2026 Games. This is no longer the topic of newspaper headlines and news reports, everything has changed. And strongly.