With only 41 years, this former Zimbabuense twice Olympic champion will happen to the institution to German Thomas Bach, in office the last 12 years.
It was the German leader himself who announced the name of his successor to the term of a process that was much faster than expected. With seven candidates in Liza, the highest figure in 130 years of history of the IOC, and without a clear winner ‘a priori’, Coventry achieved the absolute majority of votes already in the first round.
Bach’s favorite to lead COI
“This is not only a great honor, but also a reminder to each of you that I will lead this organization with great pride, with our values and I hope, full of trust, that you all feel proud of the decision they have made,” he said before the members of the IOC when his victory is announced.
Coventry, whom many saw as Bach’s favorite to his succession, surpassed the other six candidates in the first vote, including the president of World Athletics, Sebastian Coe, and the Spanish Juan Antonio Samaranch Salisachs, son of the president of the 1980 and 2001 institution, Juan Antonio Samaranch, called to face in an eventual final round.
Coventry obtained 49 votes, while Samaranch stayed in 28 and COE, the most anti -system candidate and who, according to experts, Bach did not want in any case as a successor, stayed in 8 supports, in a vote that was held behind closed doors and with the 106 members with the right to vote having to leave at the entrance all its electronic devices to avoid leaks.
Chosen in the first round
Chosen for the Athlete Commission in 2013, Coventry has had a brilliant rise within the IOC, supported between bambalins by a Bach who never publicly expressed his preferences.
On June 23 in Lausana, Coventry will officially begin a first eight -year mandate, extendable to four others.
Twenty -four years after the American Anita Defantz presented a woman’s first candidacy to IOC, losing the vote against the Belgian Jacques Rogge, Coventry is a symbol of changes in the Olympic movement.
It represents the growing feminization of the institution, which already has 43 women (around 40%) among its members, almost double that in 2013, with joint commissions.
Although the secrecy of the voting does not allow to ensure that Coventry has taken the votes of women and non -western members, the institution, always chaired in its 130 years of history by a European or an American, has been largely internationalized.
“It is a really powerful sign that we are truly global and that we have evolved towards an organization open to diversity,” Caventry proclaimed.
Feminization and internationalization
It is pending to specify its program, more diffuse than that of other candidates, but must face thorny cases, such as the reintegration or not of the Russian and Belarusian athletes, excluded after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“We hope that our athletes will continue to participate in international competitions,” said spokesman Kremlin, Dmitri Peskov. And there is less than a year left for Milan-Cortina Winter Games.
“I am convinced that his unique experience and interest in the real promotion of the noble Olympic ideals will contribute to the success of this function of high responsibility,” added Russian President Vladimir Putin, offering his “sincere congratulations.”
Coventry must also improve relations with President Donald Trump, with the Los Angeles-2028 and Salt Lake City-2034 Games on the horizon, and at a time when the United States is at war with the world antodopage agency (the IOC suffer half of its budget).
“Since I am 20 years old, I have confronted, say, difficult men who occupy high functions,” joked the winner of seven Olympic medals about Trump. “What I learned is that communication will be the key, it is something that must occur soon,” he added.
The economic model of the IOC and the climate impact of the games are two other existential issues for the Olympic instance, without forgetting that the institution must clarify the rules of participation of transgender women in female competitions, at times when the Trump administration has legislated to prevent this group from competing against other women.
More in the long term, Coventry could go down in history if the 2036 games are held for the first time in the African continent, with South Africa as a candidate, or in India, a country with G
