New IOC president Kirsty Coventry foreshadows meeting with Donald Trump

After a brutal election campaign of fake news and scandal, an African woman has been elected as the new International Olympic Committee president, overseeing world sport.

Kirsty Coventry reacts as she delivers a speech after being elected as the new IOC President. Picture: Milos Bicanski/Getty Images

President-elect of the International Olympic Committee, Kirsty Coventry has foreshadowed having to negotiate and manage Donald Trump so that qualified athletes can enter the United States to compete in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

Just hours after her stunning and historic first round election victory on Friday to replace Thomas Bach as the head of world sport, Ms Coventry said “I have been dealing with difficult men since I was 20 years old’’.

Ms Coventry first faced possible political interference in her sports career before winning her first Olympic gold medal at the Athens 2004 Olympics, when the International community was holding the Zimbabwe government under Robert Mugabe to account.

And in countering criticism of her being a minister in the current Emmerson Mnangagwa government, she said: “I don’t think you can stand on the sidelines and scream for change, I believe you have to be seated at the table to try and change it’’.

Ms Coventry said that meeting US president Donald Trump would happen early on in her presidency.

“First and foremost what I have learned is that communication is key,’’ she said.

“My firm belief is that President Trump is a huge lover of sports, he will want the LA games to be significant,” she said.

But Ms Coventry, 41, and a generation younger than previous presidents, added that the IOC would stand fast “in ensuring every athlete which qualifies for the Olympic Games will be able to attend the Olympics.’’

Mr Trump has banned transgender athletes from competing in the women’s category in the United States.

The IOC, under Ms Coventry, will move quickly to adopt similar principles.

During her campaigning she hardened her views on protecting women’s sport for female-born and soon after her election she announced a summit to protect the female category and female athletes, drawing upon work already done by some of the bigger International Federations, such as World Athletes, World Aquatics and International Cycling Federation.

Outgoing IOC President, Thomas Bach, announces that Kirsty Coventry is elected as his replacement. Picture: Milos Bicanski/Getty Images

Instead of leaving sports to define their own rules, Ms Coventry wants a clear guidance issued from the IOC.

“We will protect the female category and female athletes … we don’t need to redo the work, but I will bring everyone together, sit down and we will have more unity in the discussion,” she said.

Ms Coventry acknowledged the women before her who had paved the way for her election, singling out the United States IOC member Anita de Franz, who is severely ill, but who managed to make her way to Costa Navorino for the election.

“Women like her paved the way for women like me and I want to pave the way for the younger generation specially because I have two young daughters,’’ said Ms Coventry, who started her campaign heavily pregnant with her second daughter Lily. She also has a five year old, Ella.

The Zimbabwean has a full in tray upon moving the family to IOC headquarters in Lausanne in June, including helping to re-establish confidence in the World Anti Doping Agency. WADA is current brawling with the US Anti-doping agency over a perceived two tier approach in dealing with a spate of positive tests of Chinese swimmers ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.

Kirsty Coventry, of Zimbabwe in Lausanne in January. Photo: Jacquelin Magnay

The two time Olympic gold medallist said: “Being an Olympian and former athlete everyone it's incredibly important, everyone has to be held to the same standards, and the entire movement around them should be held to the same exact standards and that is something that I will not waver from.”

Nearly half a century after the IOC elected the first female into it’s rarefied membership of royalty, business leaders and diplomats, Coventry’s election on Friday morning Australian time was a truly watershed moment in world sport.

She is the first woman to head the Olympics and the first African.

After her name was read out by Bach, who stands down in three months time after 12 years at the helm, Ms Coventry said: “This is not just a huge honour but it is a reminder of my commitment to every single one of you that I will lead this organisation with so much pride with the Olympic values at the core. I will make all of you very proud and hopefully extremely confident in the decision that you have taken today.’’

Kirsty Coventry celebrates on the podium holding her gold medal after the women’s 200m backstroke swimming final in 2008. Picture: AFP

Ms Coventry swept the election in the first round, with no further rounds of voting required, having collected 49 votes of the 97 available.

The heavily credentialed Sebastian Coe, the chair of World Athletics, former world record holder and three time Olympic champion and who has led London 2012 Olympics, could only attract eight votes despite a global campaign to restore women’s sport for biological women only.

Mr Coe, 68, had said occupying the Olympic Movement’s highest office was a role he had been “training for the best part of my life”.

During the campaigning Ms Coventry spoke out about quarantining women’s sport for the female-born, and she was accused of “stealing” Mr Coe’s platform.

On the eve of the vote there appeared to be some vicious social media trolling against both Mr Coe and Ms Coventry.

Juan Antonio Samaranch, the son of the former long serving IOC president with the same name, got the closest to Ms Coventry with 28 votes.

Sebastian Coe. Picture: AFP

Juan Antonio Samaranch junior. Picture: Jacquelin Magnay

Ms Coventry will now have to resign her role as the IOC’s co-ordination commission chair of Brisbane 2032 as well as her job as the Zimbabwe Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation minister.

Australia’s Olympic supremo John Coates can claim credit for first identifying Ms Coventry back in 2016 as a presidential aspirant. He and the late IOC member Alex Gilady believed it was time for a female, an athlete, and a non-European to take charge of the organisation and they mentored her development through various IOC commissions.

Mr Coates told The Australian this morning: “The Olympic movement is very fortunate: she brings the views of women, of a mother, and more than that I have seen her very strong leadership qualities.

“She has shown in her job with the Zimbabwe government, where she reduced size of public service, and her authority as chair of the athletes commission – there are no dummies on there, and she has had their full respect – that she is an impactful leader.

“I think rather than throwing everything out and starting again, this is very good acknowledgment there is not too much wrong, and she has got a solid foundation to build on.’’

Ms Coventry will become the 10th president of the Olympic Movement when she takes over on June 24.

She said: “The young girl who first started swimming in Zimbabwe all those years ago could never have dreamed of this moment.

”I am particularly proud to be the first female IOC president, and also the first from Africa.

“I hope that this vote will be an inspiration to many people. Glass ceilings have been shattered today, and I am fully aware of my responsibilities as a role model.”