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≡ IOC PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ≡
“One of my expectations from our media rights holders is, how are we going to access streaming around the world?
“We saw, for the first time, NFL games over Christmas Day being streamed on Netflix. What does that look like for us? That is going to be very important as we move into the future.
“I do believe that if we can open up opportunities in these new areas, we create more fans which should in turn bring new revenue opportunities.”
That’s five-time Olympian (2000-16) and seven-time Olympic medalist swimmer Kirsty Coventry, speaking to BBC Sport Africa in advance of Thursday’s private presentations to the membership of the International Olympic Committee, with the vote for the next IOC President to take place on 20 March at the 144th IOC Session in Greece.
Coventry, 41, is by far the youngest of the seven candidates and one of just two who have no age-limitation issues in order to serve a two-term, 12-year presidency. But she has also been around the IOC for some time, elected as a member of the Athletes’ Commission in 2012, then elected as an individual member in 2021.
Her experience in swimming gave her a deep look at sport in the U.S, as she attended Auburn University in Alabama and was a champion swimmer for the Tigers. In 2019, at just 34, she was appointed the Minister of Youth, Sports, Arts and Culture in her native Zimbabwe.
All that makes her a formidable candidate, but there is more: she has been a favorite of current President Thomas Bach (GER), and served as the Chair of the Athletes’ Commission from 2018-21, dealing with thorny issues on the Tokyo 2020 Games, including athlete speech, publicity and promotion rights. She is the Chair of the Coordination Commissions for both the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar (2026) and the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane.
Bach is widely known within the Olympic Movement to be supporting Coventry as his favorite for successor and that means a lot. She is also the only woman in the field, and she seized on this for role modeling in her BBC interview:
“I want to show people and women across Africa and the world: ‘Don’t be afraid of anything.’
“If you believe in something and know you can lead an organisation, don’t be too scared to put your hand up and do it. It’s time for women in Africa to stand up and lead, to not be afraid of leading, and to not be afraid of leading in a different way.”
She noted the Netflix presentation of the NFL Christmas Day game between Baltimore and Houston, which drew an average of 24.3 million viewers. That was impressive, but down from the 29.0 million total on Fox in 2023 for the same window; the NFL has been streaming games online since 2017. And it raises the question of how Olympic broadcasts will be sold into the future, especially since the Netflix audience trended younger than the broadcast audience.
She also emphasized the need to integrate new technologies into sport, such as artificial intelligence, to maintain the IOC as a forward-looking, forward-thinking steward of the Olympic Movement.
Coventry also told the BBC she’s no fan of prize money for medal winners at the Olympic Games, since it would only make the rich richer. Instead:
“We have 10,500 athletes at the Summer Olympic Games and nearly 3,000 at a Winter Games. How do we impact them?
“How do we ensure that Olympians, or prospective Olympians and athletes from around the world get better access to sport, to training, to health and mental health [support]? Those are the programs that I would like to focus on.”
And she is also clear about ensuring that women’s competitions are for women only:
“It’s our duty to ensure equal opportunity and fairness within our competitions.
“I don’t believe we can do that based off of the medical and science research that I’ve seen if we add or allow for transgender women to compete in the female category right now.
“It is very clear that transgender women are more able in the female category, and can take away opportunities that should be equal for women. If that changes and there’s new ways of doing things, then we’ll look at that.”
Coventry is considered a solid contender to be the next IOC President, along with Sebastian Coe (GBR) from World Athletics; David Lappartient (FRA), head of the French National Olympic Committee and the Union Cycliste Internationale and long-time member Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP). The remaining candidates are seen as less likely to win: Prince Feisal Al-Hussein (JOR), International Ski & Snowboard Federation head Johan Eliasch (GBR) and gymnastics federation chief Morinari Watanabe (JPN).
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