IOC President Coventry Wants Control of the Olympics Back

Shortly before her one-year anniversary in office, Kirsty Coventry found herself in the midst of another storm of controversy. With a remark made during her first trip to Oceania—that she didn’t believe in paying athletes at the Olympics—the president of the International Olympic Committee angered a number of top athletes. Yes, she is aware of how sensitive the prize money debate is, Coventry insisted during her next public appearance. “Otherwise, we’d just be hiding our heads under the pillow,” said the 42-year-old.

Even after a year at the helm of the IOC, the Olympic swimming champion from Zimbabwe still struggles at times with the complexities of the global sports world. And the next flashpoint is already looming as Coventry convenes an extraordinary session in Lausanne on Wednesday and Thursday. The agenda will feature key points of her reform program under the title “Fit for the Future.”

A Streamlined Olympic Program

IOC members are expected to decide that, in the future, the program for the Summer and Winter Games will be organized by individual disciplines rather than by entire sports as a whole. Instead of, for example, swimming as a whole, pool events, open-water swimming, water polo, diving, and synchronized swimming would be evaluated individually.

Competitions with global appeal and the broadest possible field of participants from many parts of the world would have significantly better chances of securing a spot at the Olympics in the future than niche events, especially if the latter require their own, potentially expensive competition venues.

The goal of the plans developed by a working group appointed by Coventry is to ensure a significantly streamlined competition program starting with the 2032 Games in Brisbane. “We have recognized very clearly that we cannot keep growing indefinitely,” said Coventry. The Olympics are the IOC’s “most important asset.”

Resistance from international federations threatened by cuts and from the athletic community is inevitable. Modern pentathletes and Nordic combined athletes have long been worried about their Olympic future; now, race walkers and alpine snowboarders could also be affected. “We believe we need to regain control over the program. We are responsible here; this is our product,” Coventry explained.

IOC President Strives to Raise Her Profile

With statements like these, the first woman to hold the top job at the IOC also aims to sharpen her profile as a leader of the Olympic world. Not every public appearance went smoothly for her in her first twelve months. Her handling of the case involving Ukrainian skeleton pilot Vladislav Heraskewitsch—who was banned from competing at the Winter Games in Italy because his helmet featured images of war victims—earned Coventry a great deal of criticism. The IOC president cried on camera, but she did not reverse the Ukrainian’s suspension.

A few days later, she lost control of the final Q&A session with the international media. Three times, Coventry had to admit that she was unaware of current topics of debate within the IOC. “Maybe I’ll have to fire someone because I can’t say anything about this again,” she said, probably only half-jokingly. Many observers murmured that something like this would never have happened to her predecessor, Thomas Bach.

Sensitive Debate Over Prize Money

Coventry also didn’t seem entirely sure of her footing recently when navigating the minefield of the prize money issue. The controversial “Enhanced Games,” in which participants are even allowed to use performance-enhancing drugs, had reignited the discussion about athlete compensation with their inaugural event in Las Vegas. Competitors there were able to walk away with a winner’s bonus of 250,000 euros.

For Coventry, this is not a model for the Olympics. She argues that the number of people who would ultimately benefit from it is too small. “At the Olympic Games, I feel that we have a greater responsibility to find ways to directly support every Olympic athlete who comes to the Games,” Coventry said.

South African Roland Schoeman, an Olympic swimming champion in Athens in 2004 like Coventry, countered: “The IOC is enthusiastic about the idea of Olympic values—as long as athletes are the only ones expected to make financial sacrifices.” Cameron McEvoy of Australia, who won gold in the 50-meter freestyle in Paris two years ago, criticized Coventry with reference to the “Enhanced Games”: “There couldn’t have been a worse time for these statements.”

In the Spirit of Trump: Gender Testing for Women

The IOC president could really do without this controversy right now. Since Coventry wants above all to present herself as the top representative of the athletes—she repeatedly emphasizes her own past in the Olympic pool— This is likely why she has so far shown less interest than Bach in grand sports diplomacy in a divided world; her focus is on the Olympics’ core mission.

Coventry has put the e-sports Olympics project, which Bach had spearheaded, on hold. The future of the Youth Olympic Games currently appears completely up in the air. Coventry has also broken with the long-standing policy regarding the women’s category. In the future, in keeping with the stance of the next Olympic host, Donald Trump, female athletes will be required to undergo one-time gender testing, and transgender women will be barred from competing in women’s events at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

This week’s special session is now intended to set the course for the remaining seven years of Coventry’s term, according to the IOC: “This is not the finish line, but an important moment to determine the direction of the organization.”