Opinion The Third Edit: She, the Olympic president

I have been dealing with … difficult men in high positions since I was 20 years old.” That was double Olympic medalist swimmer Kirsty Coventry responding to a question about the potential impact of Donald Trump’s policies on the 2028 Los Angeles Games after being elected International Olympic Committee (IOC) president. Trump’s new visa regulations and his stand on transgender athletes have made the IOC uneasy. Coventry, the youngest IOC chief, is the first woman to head the 131-year old institution.

Coventry was up against a long list of formidable rivals, all men. Prominent among them was Juan Antonio Samaranch, the son of a former IOC president by the same name, and Britain’s Sebastian Coe, another double Olympic gold medalist and the president of World Athletics. Coventry’s march to the top should open more doors for women in leadership roles given that the opportunities so far have been few and far between. For decades, women have played sports by the rules laid down by mostly white, European men who dominate decision-making positions in most international federations. According to a Sport Integrity Global Alliance survey in 2023, cited in a UN report, women held only 26.9 per cent of executive positions in international sports federations. Of the 31 federations surveyed, only three had women at the helm and out of 206 National Olympic Committees, only 24 were chaired by women — India was one of them, with P T Usha as the president.

Story continues below this ad

Coventry will be in charge of world sport at a precarious time. The shadow of conflict and war looms over the sporting field in several continents. There are growing calls to “protect” — as she put it – the women’s category at the Olympics in the wake of the participation of transgender and DSD athletes. And then, there’s Trump, in the lead-up to the LA Olympics. With Coventry at the helm, however, sports will be in good hands.