CHENNAI: Mother. Wife. Friend. Former multiple Olympic champion and now next International Olympic Committee (IOC) president... Kirsty Coventry is all of that and a lot more. She is just days away from taking charge as the most powerful person in the world of sport.
When she takes the reins from Thomas Bach on June 23, she will shatter several glass ceilings as well. She will be the first woman IOC president, first from Africa, the youngest and one of the most decorated sportspersons to hold top office. This is just the beginning of an era. By the time her term ends, she would be hoping to leave a legacy that will not only withstand the ravages of time.
The last three months since her election in March had days of briefing and debriefing, and in swimming parlance "a deep dive or a deeper dive into all the information in and around the IOC". "Bach has been very good in sharing all of his knowledge and expertise and background on all the various topics which has been extremely helpful," she said during an online roundtable with select media. Bach is one of her biggest supports.
During the close to one-hour online interaction, Coventry has given a glimpse of her vision and the way she has envisioned to run the IOC. Collaborate and listen is what she said. And how it will be like the Ubuntu, the philosophy of Africa.
"I like to collaborate. I like to be able to listen. I like to be able to hear everyone's opinions. I think it's very important. It's something that we saw when I was the athlete chairperson of the IOC. When we open things up, and open platforms for athletes to share with us what they were thinking and feeling. We had open dialogue and open conversation. It really went a long way at the end of the day. I also know that I'm the IOC president, and I need to make the decisions, and we need to move. But I truly believe that you get more collective if everyone feels that they've at least had a say… at the end of the day we have been driven by the same purpose of delivering incredible games and inspiring the next generation."
There were some profound words from Coventry and this topped them all. "I would say that there's never a dream too big. There's always a way to achieve something, and don't ever let someone talk you out of having that dream of what could happen and what it could be and what things could look like. It's really powerful."
The IOC president-elect felt that not just her background as an Olympic athlete but as a mother of two young children too would help her drive the very tenet of Olympism. She felt the children would play a role in defining her tenure as well. "They are a daily reminder that we have a big responsibility to ensure that sport remains relevant and that the Olympic Games remains relevant. Listening to them and watching them. And I'm sure and I know a few people on the call have young kids as well, and you have all been parents. So you've gotten to see the sports that your children find fascinating and find exciting. I think those are the things that we have to be able to look at and acknowledge and have an appreciation for, and those are going to be again opportunities for me that I hope will help to carve a pathway through my presidency…"
The 41-year-old also announced that she has called for two-day workshop after the handover ceremony. "I have invited the IOC members to stay two extra days to have a "Pause and Reflect" workshop with them so that I can really hear what is on their mind and what they see as our opportunities and what they may see as our challenges as we move into the future and come up with different ideas."
Coventry takes strength from her Zimbabwe background as well. "That's where I see one of my strengths coming from Zimbabwe, a much smaller National Olympic Committee, a developing country. The challenges that countries like mine go through, their athletes go through. And how do we close that gap? How are we going to be able to really ensure that athletes from all walks of life have, if not the same opportunities, equal opportunities to get access to sport. There's a lot of expectations. This is where I think us engaging as a movement, looking at our programmes and how we deliver them; the use of technology. How can that really broaden the scope and impact… that it can really reach far places. Those are really going to be important assets and facets for me to follow through in my presidency."
Moving on
"I feel like I am right in the middle of bridging both age gaps so very much want to tap into both sides, and all of the members have incredible backgrounds, incredible ideas. We need to ensure that we are using all of that to the best of our ability to strengthen our movement. I'm not someone, and I never have been. I think even my competitors, when I was swimming, can tell you that once the competition was over we were friends, and we moved forward. We had that mutual respect for each other. I hope that that will be the case in our movement in terms of what we will be doing again on the 24th and 25. To give you guys a little bit of insight. We have a workshop where the members will be in five different groups. One of the leads of the groups is a candidate, and was a candidate, and had some very strong opinions on this specific topic. So again it's important for me that everyone is engaged. Everyone feels that they have a seat at the table, and can really share their ideas and their thoughts.
"And then it's about us collectively coming together and deciding what we feel is going to be the best for the future of the movement. And again, for me, I will obviously always be looking at it as how does it impact all of the stakeholders. And how are we going to reach those 9 and 10-year-olds around the world to ensure that the movement remains relevant for them?"