The untold story of how Aussie golden girl Susie O’Neill saved IOC boss Kirsty Coventry

Before she was sport’s most powerful woman, Kirsty Coventry was an aspiring Olympian who was saved from an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction that might have changed the course of history.

The most powerful woman in world sport said she has Susie O’Neill to thank for saving her from an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction that might have changed the course of history, had it not been for the intervention of Australian swimming’s golden girl.

In an illuminating and highly personal insight into how she broke through sport’s highest glass ceiling to be elected as the incoming president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry revealed the chance role O’Neill played in helping her avert an awkward moment.

The pair met unexpectedly at Sydney in 2000, where Coventry was preparing for her Olympic debut and ‘Madame Butterfly’, as O’Neill was affectionately known, was making her Olympic swan song after an incredible career that started at Barcelona in 1992 and spanned three Games.

A teenage schoolgirl at the time, Coventry was already feeling nervous about competing in her first event in front of a packed Aquatic Centre when her best-laid plans suddenly started to unravel after she had been given a Speedo Fastskin, the swimsuit of choice at that time.

Coming from a landlocked African country with no previous Olympic swimmers of note, Coventry had never seen let alone worn one of the hi-tech swimsuits before and was having trouble putting it on until a stranger came to her rescue.

Before being elected as the first female president of the International Olympic Committee, Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry was a champion swimmer

“I was in the changing room and I was trying to put the suit on and it was the most embarrassing thing,” Coventry told this masthead during a hook-up call with selected international media.

“I had one foot in, and trying to get the other one and I kind of bowled over and fell over.

“And this awesome person next to me is trying to help me out. And I look up and it’s Susie.

“And I was like, ‘oh my gosh, you’re my hero.’”

Already a legend in her own right, who won eight Olympic medals in total, including two golds, O’Neill had no idea at the time just how influential a figure the young African girl she helped squeeze into her cossie would later become.

A trailblazer for all women, Coventry has gone on to break down barriers both in and out of the pool.

While she didn’t win any medals in Sydney, she went on to compete at five Olympics and collect seven medals, including two golds, in 200m backstroke at Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008). She also won numerous world championships, a Commonwealth Games title, and set multiple world records.

Australian swimmer Susie O'Neill helped out Kirsty Coventry at the 2000 Sydney Olympics

Since hanging up her goggles, she’s made an even more rapid rise in the murky world of sports administration, culminating in her election in March as the first woman to lead the male-dominated IOC.

She will officially take over on Monday at a handover ceremony in Switzerland when Thomas Bach’s 12-year reign ends.

Just 41, and a mother of two children, Coventry has never forgotten all the moments that inspired her along the way, starting with the Sydney Olympics where she watched Cathy Freeman light the flame then got a helping hand from O’Neill.

A quarter of a century later, the pair were reunited while Coventry was on a flying visit to Queensland last month just days after O’Neill was elected to the executive board of the Australian Olympic Committee.

“When I was just in Brisbane, I got to have a coffee with the great Susie O’Neill,” Coventry said.

“We got to catch up, and I was reminding her, ‘I don’t think you’re gonna remember this story because you would not have known who I was, but I knew exactly who you were …

“She didn’t remember, but I told her that she was wonderful and she was so kind to help me and she gave me some tips on how the heck to put those suits on.”

“It’s where it first started,” Coventry added. “You know, the dream became a reality in 2000, of becoming an Olympian.

“In 2004, the dream of winning an Olympic medal came true, but in 2000 it was really where I think that flame was ignited in me that I wanted to come back and that this is really something that I wanted to do in that. I have incredible fond memories of Sydney.”

Kirsty Coventry is confident the 2032 Brisbane Olympics will be hugely successful

Elected for an initial eight-year term, Coventry can expect to see a lot more of O’Neill ahead of the Olympic circus rolling into Queensland in 2032.

Coventry is already up to speed with Brisbane’s preparations after serving as chair of the Coordination Commission, although she had to relinquish that role after being elected president, with Mikaela Cojuangco Jaworski, former Olympic equestrian rider from the Philippines, replacing her.

Despite the initial dawdling over venues, Coventry has no doubts Brisbane will emulate the stunning success of Sydney by delivering a fantastic Olympics.

Cathy Freeman lit the flame at the Sydney Olympics

“They’re going to be incredible Games,” she said.

“We were just there for the Co-Comm and there was such great work being done and now we have a sort of pathway ahead.

“One of my most favourite memories, even though it was almost like a deer in headlights moment, was when I first walked onto the deck.

“I think I was swimming the 100m backstroke and seeing 14,000 people all screaming and shouting for swimmers that they didn’t even know who they were.

“The love and the passion that Aussies have for sports and especially for swimming.

“It will be an incredible Games. And I hope that, for me, it will be really important that Brisbane 2032 shows that side of themselves and Australia to the world.”

Originally published as The untold story of how Aussie golden girl Susie O’Neill saved IOC boss Kirsty Coventry