When Kirsty Coventry won her first Olympic medal around 20 years ago in the Greek capital Athens, it was a symbol of unity for her home country, Zimbabwe, which was in turmoil at the time. Fast forward to 20 March 2025, she has become one of the most powerful women in the world, with her incredible first-round knockout victory in the IOC presidential election – also in Greece – being described as a sign of unity.
“I’m honoured to have been successful here in Athens in 2004. Greece seems to be my lucky charm,” she said in a live TV interview with IOC Media – just before her scheduled press conference.
In her victory speech, Coventry emphasised: “Sport has an unmatched power to unite, inspire and create opportunities for all, and I am committed to making sure we harness that power to its fullest. The future of the Olympic movement is bright, and I can’t wait to get started.”
LANDMARK VICTORY
In addition to being the first female and African to lead the IOC in its 130-year-old history, the 41-year-old is also the second youngest (after Pierre de Coubertin) and second Olympic champion (after Thomas Bach).
“I’m grateful to have been given a platform to work extremely hard over the last six months with IOC members to really make sure that they know who I am and what values I hold dearly. It wasn’t just about being a woman or being from Africa. I’m so grateful that the members saw more than just gender or where I come from.”
While still basking in her election victory, the Zimbabwean sports minister is not oblivious of the challenges ahead – from gender eligibility issue to geopolitical uncertainty. Below are excerpts from her first interaction with the media as the IOC president-elect, which lasted around 30 minutes.
SMOOTH TRANSITION
“This is a first in our movement where we have a proper handover transition, which I believe is so important, there will be numerous discussions over the next three months and I’m looking forward to that. President Bach is leading our organization, and has led our organization extremely well over the last few years. As many of you know, there’s been many difficulties that he’s overcome. So I would like to be able to have those conversations with him on how he decided to tackle those, and what advice he could give me for the future in terms of that, in terms of the significance of being the first woman, being the first African. I have to say that there have been incredible women that have come before me, one of them sitting in the room today, which I’m a little emotional about. Anita DeFrantz, a huge inspiration to me and to many women. And I was just really proud that I could make her proud. She was the first woman to run for this position. Like I said, She inspired me. She’s been a huge mentor of mine since I came into the movement in 2013 and, yeah, it is significant. I think it will take a little bit of time to truly set in, but women like her paved the way for women like me, and I want to pave the way for the younger generation, especially because I have two young daughters.”
DONALD TRUMP AND LA 2028
“When it comes to the USA and LA, I have been dealing with, let’s say, difficult men in high positions since I was 20 years old. And first and foremost, what I have learned is that communication will be key. That is something that will happen early on, and my firm belief is that President Trump is a huge lover of sports. He will want these Games to be significant. He will want them to be a success, and we will not waver from our values of solidarity and ensuring that every athlete that qualifies for the Olympic Games has the possibility to attend the Olympic Games and be safe during the meetings.”
ANTI-DOPING
“As an Olympian and a former athlete, anti-doping is incredibly important, and everyone should be held to the exact same standards. Our athletes are held to the same standards, and the entire movement around them should be held to the same standards. That’s something that I will not waver from, and it’s very important for me that that happens. And we may have a bit of work to do to make sure that that actually is put into place.”
SPREADING THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT IN AFRICA
“First and foremost, I think Dakar 2026 (Youth Olympics) is, as they said, going to be welcoming the world. I have been chairing of that commission for the last few years, and I’m really proud and excited of the work that they’re doing, and I know it’s going to be an incredible time for the world to see who we are as Africans, and what we mean and what we stand for, and how we are willing to embrace everyone. There’s always work that we need to do, but this honor that I’ve been given to serve our movement is going to allow for us to have a greater reach into new regions. I truly believe that this decision today shows the universality and globalness of our movement.”
SELECTING THE HOST OF THE 2036 OLYMPICS
“At the end of the day, there is a process in place, and that process has been ongoing, and that will remain, as far as I know, for the next few months. I do think that we need to involve the members in the selection of future hosts, and I have a few ideas.”
PROTECTING WOMEN IN SPORTS
“My stance is that we will protect the female category and female athletes. I want to work together with the International Federations. I want the IOC to take a little bit more of a leading role, and we’re going to do that by setting up a workforce, a task force, that will analyze everything. We don’t need to redo the work. The IFs have done the work, but we are going to bring everyone together, sit down and have a little bit more unity in the discussion.”
HER SUPPORT NETWORK
“I got to give my husband a big hug and kiss my kids. So that was really, really special. My little girl ran up to me, my oldest, and said, ‘Mom, you won’. I don’t think she knows what that means or how it’s potentially going to change our lives, but they have been incredible. I have an incredible husband, I have an incredible support network, and I wouldn’t have been able to been sitting up here today without them. So I also want to thank them and acknowledge them.
“My husband and I had to make a decision. When I was given the job of Minister of Youth, Sport and Art in Zimbabwe, we knew that that was going to be a full time commitment. From my point of view, I also was just pregnant with my first daughter, so I think baby girls also bring me luck, other than just also being in Greece, and we had made a decision as a couple that we wanted one of us to always be available for the kids, and he was able to keep his work online. So we really benefited from that. But my parents live really close by, and we have a really strong network that supports us, and part of our culture is it takes a village to raise a child, and we are certainly a couple that does that.”
VICTORY IN GREECE
“Greece didn’t just give birth to the Olympic Games, it also allowed me to win my first Olympic gold medal in 2004, so it holds a very special place in my heart. It’s been an incredible experience being here and visiting ancient Olympia a few days ago. It was very calming to be in the place where it all started. And again, I said to the members that as a nine year old girl watching the Olympic Games in Barcelona ‘92 on the TV, I didn’t ever think that I would be in this position where I get to give back to a movement that’s given me so much. I’m really honored, and it makes it much more special that this has happened here in Greece.”
RELOCATING TO SWITZERLAND
“Right now I want to go and thank everybody for supporting me and really let this sink in, but I will be moving to Lausanne. I will have a conversation with my president in Zimbabwe. They were very supportive of me running in this campaign, and I believe that while it may be a little sad to say goodbye, they are also really proud of me moving into another chapter.”
WORK TO DO
“We’ve got work to do, but I’m really excited about that work, because there are so many incredible opportunities that we have as the Olympic movement to really bring unity, especially in a very divided world today.”
GENDER ELIGIBILITY ISSUE
“I think there’s a number of different challenges that we’re going to face as the movement, and we’re going to tackle those together. So in terms of Donald Trump again, it’s going to take communication. 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. And once we’ve made the decision collectively with the International Federations, that decision will be made very clear, and we won’t move from that decision.”
ATHLETES FROM CONFLICT AREAS
“I believe at the end of the day, we need to do anything and everything to protect and support athletes from all conflict areas. We have numerous conflicts, and a number of them are happening on my continent. So again, we need to sit down as the Olympic movement and have a very serious conversation around how we are going to deal with more and more conflicts, and how we are going to protect and support athletes that are coming from these conflict areas.”
COLLECTIVE DECISION
“I’ve never, ever been successful as an individual. I’ve been successful because of a team. And what I’ve learned most of the last six months is I have an incredibly strong team within my leadership. They are incredible people with many experiences, a lot of knowledge, and I’m going to lean on each of them. We’re going to make decisions together. We’re going to support each other, and for me, that’s the only way that I’m willing to work.”
CONFRONTING CRITICISMS
“In terms of my country, I chose to want to try and create change from the inside. I get criticized, and that’s okay, because at the end of the day, I don’t think you can stand on the sidelines and scream and shout for change. I believe you have to be seated at the table to try and create change.”
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