Candidate for the chairmanship of the International Olympic Committee, on the occasion of the 144ᵉ Session in Costa Navarino (Greece) on March 20, the 41 -year -old Zimbabwean, double Olympic champion of the 200 M back in 2004 and 2008, member of the executive commission of the CIO and Minister of Sports since 2018, details his positions on the main challenges in which the institution is confronted.
RFI: You are the youngest candidate for this election, the only woman and the first representative in Africa to seek the presidency of the IOC. Are you the best symbol of what the IOC should be in the 21st century?
Kirsty Coventry : I hope that is what the members of the committee feel, but I also want to be the best person for the position, not only because of my gender or my origin. I want members to feel that they can have self -confidence and that they will be the best to direct our incredible organization, especially in this future that changes so quickly.
As a high-level sportsman and ex-president of the CIO athlete commission, you are aware of the challenges faced by athletes, in particular in Africa, to reach the highest international level. What should be the priority to increase their chances?
As an old athlete, the most difficult part of my career was to become Olympic champion. This is where I think we should focus a little more the dedicated IOC programs. I also want to make sure that the voices of athletes are always heard, because this is how we know what they expect from us, through the athlete commission, ensuring that we are listening to what athletes need, and how we can work on their protection and support. On the other hand, I do not believe in bonuses [versées aux médaillés en athlétisme lors des JO de Paris 2024, une mesure annoncée par World Athletics, présidée par Sebastian Coe, autre candidat à la présidence du CIO, NDLR]. Again, looking at my journey and speaking to athletes around me, the most difficult part is always before becoming Olympic champion or before being famous. Once you are or have won medals, many more opportunities are available to you. The question is therefore how we can help more athletes become Olympic champions or finalists. This is how we can concern more athletes.
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You are very sensitive to the place of female sport and the representation of female athletes in the media. What would be the first measure that you would implement in this area if you were elected?
Within the Olympic movement, we have already managed to do a good job for the promotion of gender equality. It must now be extended. We need better representation of women in international federations and in national Olympic committees. We must see more opportunities for women coaches and the entourage of athletes. When a program is launched or when trying to advance something, quotas certainly play a role because they help change the culture. Once people have joined this culture and see the true value of having more diversity around the table, and it becomes really anchored in the culture of an organization, then quota systems can be deleted. So, I really think they serve a goal at the start.
The question of transgender athletes or people affected by a difference in sexual development, such as Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, gold medalist in Paris 2024, but targeted by hateful messages on social networks, remains controversial. What is your opinion on this?
I want to make sure that we protect the female category and I think we have to find a way to follow by doing it collectively with international federations. The IOC must play a leading role and we must ensure, again, that we protect and serve athletes. What I mean by “protecting the athletes” is that when one of them lives something like what happened in Paris, or if you look at the case of athletes unlike sexual development, as the well -known case of Caster Semenyait is not managed with sensitivity. We should do much better, we have to find a collective path that does not put a athlete in danger.
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The Paris 2024 Olympic Games were a great popular and financial success for the IOC. Is this now the model to follow and how can this success be used to engage the young generation in a constantly evolving media landscape?
Paris 2024 was exactly what the world needed, especially after the covid. They were incredible and extremely successful games, and we have to use this platform at this time when everyone is still talking about it. The Paris 2024 organizing committee and Tony Estanguet have done incredible work across the country by hiring young people, schoolchildren, and involving them in sport, and it is the IOC mission to build a better world thanks to sport. So the question is how you can use what was done in Paris 2024 and spread it around the world.
Should the Olympics be broadcast on platforms such as Netflix?
As we go to the future, Netflix, Apple TV, YouTube, these online streaming companies, are only strengthening. And when we look at Africa for example, in a few years, you will have more than half a billion young people under 35 years old and most of them have smartphones. So, if we do not find creative means to connect with them on these online platforms, it will be really a missed opportunity.
Are you in favor of the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to the Olympic Games, starting with Milan Cortina next year, and under what conditions?
Unfortunately, in today’s world, we will above all have to face the question of how to protect and support athletes in all areas of conflict. We see more and more conflicts in Africa, you have them in Europe and the Middle East. For me, we must create a working group that will develop a framework that will protect and support athletes from all these conflict zones to help them participate in the Games. In the end, we must also make sure that all the athletes present at the Games will be protected. Therefore, it may be necessary to set up different regulations to ensure that all athletes are supported and that there are not that are more protected than others.
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You are currently the president of the Dakar 2026 Olympic Youth Olympic Games Coordination Commission. Will the success of these games be crucial for Africa’s credibility to one day welcome the Olympic Games?
Yes, 100 %. This is the first time that the Olympic movement has come to Africa and can discover our enthusiasm, our energy, our culture, and this opportunity has excited us. But that is accompanied by a lot of responsibilities. We work in close collaboration with Dakar 2026 to ensure that we give this forum to Senegalbut also in Africa, to show the world what we can do.
In general, do you think that the interests of African sport are sufficiently represented at the top of the Olympic movement and what would you do to improve things?
There are always points that we can improve to make sure. One of the great things I talked about with the CIO members would be to try to find innovative ways to fill the gap between the Olympic national committees which are very well supported and well managed and those who need much more support, because still in development. The use of technology and artificial intelligence in particular will be very important to fill this gap, because once it is a little filled, developing countries will be able to devote more time and money to support their athletes, and we will then be able to see more medals won worldwide.
Do you learn French if you are elected to the IOC?
Yes (She says it in French, and laughing) … This is a promise that I made to the members of the IOC. This is something that I will take very seriously. We have a French school at Zimbabwe And I have already taken a few steps (laughs). It would certainly be a great honor for me to be able to speak the language of our founder, Pierre de Coubertin!
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