Online Reporter
Collin Matiza
Zimpapers Sports Hub
ZIMBABWE’S Minister of Sport, Kirsty Coventry, has said her vision if elected as the next President of the International Olympic Committee “is harnessing the power of sport and recognising that athletes are more than competitors”.
She also said, “we must continue to prioritise their mental health, physical recovery, and amplify their holistic well-being throughout their athletic careers beyond.”
Coventry’s focus will also be on athlete engagement, organisational efficiency, and the importance of political neutrality.
She said this in her manifesto for the IOC presidency which was revealed by the international sports organisation on Thursday.
In fact, the IOC revealed manifestos of seven presidency candidates.
Sebastian Coe, Prince Feisal Al Hussein, Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, Coventry, Johan Eliasch, David Lappartient and Morinari Watanabe are the seven candidates running for IOC President’s post.
The IOC on Thursday published the manifestos of the seven candidates to succeed Thomas Bach as president in March.
And an IOC member since 2013, chairperson of the Athlete Commission (2018-2021), Coventry of Zimbabwe also said: “My mission to drive empowerment, strengthen engagement, and ensure we remain relevant, is guided by the Ubuntu philosophy: ‘I am because we are.’ This principle highlights the combined strength of the Olympic community and our responsibility to uplift one another.
“Harnessing the power of sport. Recognising that athletes are more than competitors, we must continue to prioritise their mental health, physical recovery, and amplify their holistic well-being throughout their athletic careers beyond.
“Harness the expertise of our International Federations to enhance the impact of every event.
“The Olympic Games must lead by example in environmental responsibility, championing sustainable practices in infrastructure, logistics, and operations.
“Zero tolerance for corruption, doping and unethical behaviour. I believe our Olympic Movement has a pivotal role to play in today’s world, a world increasingly divided. We have the opportunity to demonstrate the true power of sport: the resilience to rise after failure, the strength to never give up, and the importance of understanding and respect.”
Coventry also said her vision is to live in a world where sport is played and enjoyed, every single day by every single person regardless of age, race, ability, religion or gender.
In 2023, she was re-appointed by President Mnangagwa as Minister for Sports, Art and Recreation.
She has seven Olympic swimming medals, including two golds, from five Olympics.
Meanwhile, the seven candidates running for IOC president had their manifestos published, and one is offering to take just half of the eight-year mandate on offer and stand again in 2029, according to the Associated Press.
The AP reported that Sebastian Coe, the World Athletics president who turned 68 this year, pledged to embed “transformative change over the next four years” then seek re-election ahead of schedule.
Coe was among several candidates offering to give back to IOC members – who elect their president at a March 18-21 meeting near the site of Ancient Olympia in Greece – a decisive choice in picking future host cities.
Under the hands-on presidency of Thomas Bach, who reaches his limit of 12 years in office next year, members now simply rubber-stamp a single host candidate that has worked with the IOC administration.
Two members of the Bach-chaired IOC executive board, Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr and Prince Feisal al Hussein, joined Coe in promising to empower members to have a bigger role in the Olympic body.
They also promise to raise the retirement age for members from 70 to 75 years. Members must be invited to join the exclusive IOC club and the current 111 include European and Middle East royalty, leaders of international sports bodies, former and current Olympic athletes, politicians, diplomats, industrialists and an Oscar-winning actress.
Only IOC members can be presidential candidates and the other contenders are board member Kirsty Coventry and three more presidents of sports governing bodies: Johan Eliasch from skiing, David Lappartient from cycling, and Morinari Watanabe from gymnastics.
The manifesto releases are one of just two set-piece events in a mostly opaque campaign with strict rules to limit self-promotion and engagement with voters.
Candidates will present themselves to voters, though not take questions, at a January 30 meeting at IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The IOC has had no female president and just nine men leading it in a 130-year history.
Eight of those presidents were from Europe and one from the United States.
Coventry, the 41-year-old Sports Minister of Zimbabawe, is just the second female candidate ever to run for the IOC leadership and is widely seen as Bach’s preferred choice to continue his policies.
Coventry and Coe are two-time Olympic champions in swimming and track, respectively. Coe also led organising the 2012 London Olympics.
Coe upset the IOC establishment – including some voters – this year by committing World Athletics to pay US$50 000 prize money to gold medallists in track and field at the Paris Olympics.
The sport also will pay silver and bronze medallists at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games.
Though not specifying prize money, Prince Feisal called for Olympic athletes to be “properly valued” while Samaranch proposed letting athletes use footage of their performances on social media channels.
That would relax strict IOC rules on Olympic athletes’ ability to promote themselves.
Challenges facing the IOC include picking a host for the 2036 Olympics, with India and Qatar in the mix, and looking at moving the Summer Games from its established July-August place in the modern sports calendar.
According to the AP, the next IOC president also must address the impact of climate change on the global sports calendar, gender issues in sports, when and how to bring Russia back fully into the Olympic Games and signing a new US broadcast deal.
Long-time partner NBC’s deal expires after the 2032 Brisbane Olympics and has been a foundation of Olympic revenue, which was US$7,6 billion in the 2021-24 Olympic cycle.
The IOC presidency has been limited to 12 years in anti-corruption reforms passed after the Salt Lake City bidding scandal erupted in 1999.
The first term is eight years and presidents can seek a second and final term of four years.
