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≡ COVENTRY ERA STARTS ≡
“There was overwhelming support from the IOC members for a pause to be done, and a review, of the Future Host Election process, and we will be setting up a working group to look into this.
“For two main reasons: members want to be engaged more in the process, and secondly, there was a very big discussion in and around when the next host be awarded. We want to use the learnings from L.A. and from Brisbane, as well as the French Alps, who have had a much shorter lead time. And in the case of L.A. and Brisbane, a much longer lead time.
“So there was a lot of discussion from all of the members on when is the appropriate time to select a future host. So for those two reasons, that working group is going to be set up in the next week or so, to start looking into when we should be selecting the future host, and how we should be selecting the future host.”
That was new International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) at a Thursday news conference following a busy for three days in charge, with a day-and-half “Pause and Reflect” session with 70-plus IOC members in Lausanne and then an IOC Executive Board meeting.
She expanded on the desire to revisit the host-selection process:
“The members were in agreement that the way we used to do things is not where we want to go. There’s been some very good reforms to get the future hosts and the selection of host cities to date, but it just felt – and they [members] felt – to be included in the process a little bit more. And to really to be able to better understand the process.
“If you’re not sitting on the Future Host Commission, you’re obviously not getting as much information, and it’s such an important part of what we do, and members get asked a lot in their own home countries, what’s happening and where is it going; they want to better educate themselves. So, these are really the key points that we will be looking at in terms of the review.”
So, no decisions yet (and not for a while). Coventry also stressed that the time is right to analyze the experience of LA28 and Brisbane 2032 – both selected 11 years ahead – against that of Paris (seven years) and French Alps 2030, which was named only in 2024, in terms of the right time to select a future host.
Coventry also announced a second significant outcome from the member forum:
“There was an overwhelming support … that we should protect the female category.
“And with that, we are going to … not revisit, that we’re going to set up a working group, made up of experts and International Federations. It was agreed by the members that the IOC should take a leading role in this, and that we should be the ones to bring together the experts, bring together the International Federations, and ensure that we find consensus.
“We understand that there will be differences, depending on the sport, but it was fully agreed that, as members and as the IOC, we should make the effort to place emphasis on the protection of the female category and that we should ensure that this is done in consensus with all the stakeholders.”
This was one her pledges during her campaign, and she stressed the need for bringing in everyone who has been involved in this area over more than a decade, especially the federations, who had been on the leading edge of the issue, as well as “cohesion” on the topic, with “scientific and medical research at the core.”
Asked about whether the working group will revisit the controversy at Paris 2024 with gold-medal women’s boxers Yu-Ting Lin (TPE) and Imane Khelif (ALG), Coventry was clear:
“We’re not going to be doing anything retrospectively. We’re going to be looking forward.”
She explained that the “Pause and Reflect” program covered much more:
“We focused on five main topics: the athletes, the Olympic Games, the Olympic Movement, a better world through sport, and then all things revenue generation, reach, engagement; again, very wide scopes, but the engagement from the members was really incredible.”
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As to future Games, Coventry noted that “Milano Cortina and L.A. are both on track,” and shared that more than 120,000 applications – with half under age 35 – from 165 countries, have been received for 18,000 volunteer positions for the 2026 Winter Games, and that 50% of the tickets have been sold.
On Los Angeles, LA28 Chair Casey Wasserman reported that he was favorably received at the recent annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, in Tampa, Florida, where he spoke about the plans for the 2028 Torch Relay, which is planned to hit all 50 states.
Coventry was pointedly asked about the recent turmoil in Los Angeles and how the IOC can be sure of success there. She was confident:
“When it comes to LA28, again, as I said before, we had a report from the organizing committee and there is so much goodwill from all levels of government, from the state to the Federal. There is an incredible willingness to see that the Olympic Games are a huge success.
“So the reason I mention that is because that gives us faith as the Olympic Movement, that that platform will be there for us to ensure that our values are stuck to, but that our values will also be heard and that we will be able to ensure successful Games for our athletes, but not just for our athletes, but for athletes around the world that are so looking forward to the success of the LA2028 Games.
“We have all heard how the LA84 Games was a huge pinnacle in our Olympic history; so many athletes are looking for to it [2028], so again, it’s our duty to ensure that we work towards that, and as of right now, we see that full commitment coming, across the board.
“And as the CEO, Reynold [Hoover] shared with us yesterday, there is ‘unity of effort’ as he put it … and, again, that was very reassuring for us and we will continue to work towards that as a unifying model in our different stakeholder roles.”
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Coventry was asked a couple of times about the “neutral athlete” situation for Russian and Belarusian athletes for the 2026 Winter Games, but the subject was not discussed. It is expected to come up in the September Executive Board meeting.
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Good news for U.S. middle-distance star Shannon Rowbury, as the IOC Executive Board formally approved the medal re-allocation for the London 2012 women’s 1,500 m, in which five of the 13 finalists were disqualified for doping.
Turkey’s Asli Cakir Alptekin and Gamze Bulut went 1-2 and were both found to be doping. Original third-place finisher Maryam Yusuf Jamal (BRN) has already been advanced as the winner, and fourth-placer Tatyana Tomashova (RUS) was also disqualified for doping.
So, Ethiopia’s Abeba Aregawi and Rowbury, who finished 5-6, are now – officially – the silver and bronze medalists! Now 40, it’s Rowbury’s only Olympic medal among her three appearances in 2008-12-16; she finished fourth at the Rio 2016 1,500 m. She also won a Worlds bronze at 1,500 m in 2009.
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