Groundbreaking but controversial - new IOC president Coventry

Kirsty Coventry will become the first woman to hold the most powerful role in sport, having been elected the 10th International Olympic Committee (IOC) president at a meeting in Greece.

The Zimbabwean sports minister and double Olympic swimming champion is also the first African and, at the age of 41, the youngest person to take up the position. But her victory is controversial as well as groundbreaking.

BBC Sport looks at why.

A landslide win and a new era

Despite predictions of a close race between the seven candidates and expectations of multiple rounds of voting, Coventry secured an overall majority of the secret ballot after just one round, winning 49 votes out of a possible 97.

Lord Coe meanwhile - the highest profile candidate with a CV that boasts overseeing London 2012 and running World Athletics - could only muster a meagre eight votes.

A year after Paris 2024 set a milestone as the first Olympics to achieve full gender parity, Coventry's triumph sends a powerful message.

Up until 1981 there were no female members of the IOC and Coventry is only the second woman to run for the presidency.

Her background and relative youth also helps the IOC project a progressive and diverse image at a time when it is trying to ensure the Games remain relevant to younger generations.

As well as being a seven-time Olympic medallist and competing at five Games, Coventry has been an IOC member since 2013, where she has held a number of significant roles.

But the nature of her victory - despite a low-key campaign - has led to questions over how it was achieved.

Bach's choice?

IOC insiders that BBC Sport spoke to at the luxury resort of Costa Navarino in Greece, where Thursday's vote took place, all said that Coventry was the preferred candidate of outgoing president Thomas Bach.

The German denied suggestions that he had been directly lobbying on her behalf, and insisted that the process had been fair.

On Friday, he said he was "very much relieved" to see the result of the vote, calling it "a demonstration of the IOC as a global organisation with the highest good governance standards".

Whatever the reality, Coventry's success has been widely portrayed as a win for continuity and patronage at the IOC, and for her long-time mentor Bach, and evidence of his influence over an organisation he has ruled since 2013, and with its membership - most of which he has appointed.

The result will also intensify scrutiny of the IOC's secretive and highly restrictive election process.

The exclusive organisation - made up of royals, heads of state, former athletes and figures from business and politics - seems resistant to the change that candidates like Coe stood for.

The double Olympic champion was the reform candidate, but his pledge to shake up the IOC clearly did not appeal to many.

At World Athletics, Coe had taken a tougher stance than the IOC on Russian doping and gender eligibility, and introduced the idea of cash for gold medals at Paris 2024, a move that antagonised Bach.

Protecting women's sport?

Kirsty Coventry — Coventry is the youngest person - and the first from outside Europe or North America - to be elected president of the IOC [Getty Images]

Coventry has pledged to introduce a blanket ban on transgender women competing in female Olympic competition, insisting that she will protect women athletes and that fairness and safety are paramount.

But critics have pointed out that she was also a member of the IOC's executive board when it allowed two boxers who had reportedly failed gender eligibility tests to compete in the women's boxing competition at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

While the IOC insisted the fighters were women, and questioned the credibility of the tests, the controversy led to intense scrutiny of the organisation's rules, and threatened to engulf the Games.

Political career

Coventry's career has been intertwined with politics for years.

In 2008, she accepted a $100,000 reward from Zimbabwe's authoritarian leader president Robert Mugabe - given to her in a suitcase - for winning four medals at the Beijing Games.

The gift came at a time of severe food shortages and inflation, and the swimmer announced she was giving some of the money to charity. Mugabe's later years in power were marked by violent repression of his political opponents and Zimbabwe's economic ruin.

Although at the time Coventry did speak out about the need for change in Zimbabwe, as an athlete she tried to avoid being drawn into politics. In 2018 however she became sports minister for Mugabe's successor - controversial president Emmerson Mnangagwa - known as 'The Crocodile' for his ruthlessness and political cunning.

Mnangagwa - who has congratulated Coventry - is associated with some of the worst atrocities committed under the ruling party since independence in 1980.

In 2023 campaign group Amnesty said his government had "failed to live up to its promises for change and break with Mugabe's brutal human rights legacy" and said authorities had "systematically supressed peaceful dissent".

Last year the United States imposed sanctions on Mnangagwa and other senior officials for corruption and human rights abuses.

Coventry has also faced criticism for her record as sports minister. In 2020 Zimbabwe's stadiums were banned by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) from hosting all international games for substandard facilities. And in 2022, during Coventry's tenure, football's world governing body Fifa banned Zimbabwe from international fixtures over governmental interference in the running of the game. She has also faced criticism for the state of the country's sports infrastructure.

Coventry's close ties with Mnangagwa will inevitably lead to questions over her suitability to lead the IOC, but last month she defended her role when interviewed by BBC Sport.

"I don't believe you can really create change if you don't have a seat at the table" she said.

"It's not been the easiest thing but I have had incredible support and we are making a difference. Having to navigate very sensitive issues has definitely given me extra 'armour' if I can put it that way for what [the IOC] will face in in the future, and we're going to have to navigate difficult leaders that have different opinions on things."

The challenge ahead

Coventry's diplomatic skills are about to be put to the test.

She will assume her new role in June at a critical time for the Olympic movement, and amid a tense geopolitical landscape in which sport has become increasingly weaponised.

Major challenges could include the potential reintegration of Russia which was banned following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and building a relationship with US president Donald Trump before the next summer Games in Los Angeles in 2028.

There are just eight months until the next winter Games in northern Italy, and a host for the 2036 Olympics must be chosen.

Long-term issues include gender eligibility, climate change, doping, and ensuring the Games remain relevant going forward amid a rapidly-changing media and entertainment landscape.

Many in Africa will hope that Coventry's success could increase the continent's chances of hosting the Games for the first time.

In November the IOC said it welcomed interest from South Africa in hosting the 2036 Games. Competition is expected to come from India and the Middle East.

Speaking to the BBC on Friday Michael Payne, the former IOC director of marketing, said: "There is no doubt that the influence of Africa in world sport will grow because of this appointment."

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Groundbreaking but controversial - new IOC president Coventry

A landslide win and a new era

Bach's choice?

Protecting women's sport?

Political career

The challenge ahead

Topics

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