Coventry faces difficult task

The world that Zimbabwean sports icon Kirsty Coventry steps into today as the new president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is already vastly different from the one that elected her just three months ago. Coventry becomes both the first African and the first woman to lead the IOC in its 130-year history, assuming the role amid mounting global political turbulence and rising challenges for international sport.

Coventry's leadership begins with the looming 2028 Los Angeles Olympics  -  an event that should be a celebration of athletic excellence but is increasingly tangled in U.S. domestic politics. In a stunning critique, U.S. President Donald Trump recently described Los Angeles as a "trash heap," as the city braces to host more than 200 nations and over 11,000 athletes in three years' time. Tensions have also flared over the deployment of U.S. military forces in the city, reportedly against the wishes of state and city officials.

Further complicating matters is the threat of a Trump-led travel ban that could affect several Olympic delegations. While exemptions are typically granted to Olympic participants, recent reports that members of Senegal's women's basketball team were denied visas for a U.S. training camp have raised fresh concerns. Coventry has reportedly made arranging a face-to-face meeting with Trump a top priority  -  her first major test in the murky realm of Olympic diplomacy.

It's a landscape not unfamiliar to her predecessor, Thomas Bach, whose 12-year tenure weathered doping scandals, North Korean nuclear brinkmanship, a global pandemic, and Olympic bribery cases. Yet Bach leaves behind a financially stable IOC buoyed by the widely praised 2024 Paris Olympics and secured host cities for the next decade of summer and winter Games.

Coventry, a two-time Olympic swimming champion and former Sports Minister in Zimbabwe, has called for a cultural shift within the IOC. She has invited the IOC's full 109-member body to closed-door "Pause and Reflect" meetings, starting tomorrow, to reimagine the organization's future. "The way in which I like to lead is with collaboration," Coventry told reporters on Thursday. "I like people to say: ‘Yes, I had a say and this was the direction that we went.' That way, you get really authentic buy-in."

Calls for broader member involvement have grown after more than a decade of Bach's centralized style. Coventry's closest election rival, IOC Vice President Juan Antonio Samaranch, is expected to lead one of the reflective sessions. The desire for more transparent and democratic processes is especially significant as the IOC prepares to select the host city for the 2036 Summer Olympics  -  a decision likely to define Coventry's legacy.

India has emerged as a strong contender for 2036, supported by billionaire Mukesh Ambani's family and IOC member Nita Ambani, who played a central role in India's promotional campaign during the Paris Games. Coventry and Ambani are seen as allies, but the new IOC president has vowed to remain impartial. "It is an open question," she said of the 2036 bid. "For me as a president I need to be able to remain neutral."

Qatar and Saudi Arabia are also interested in hosting, with speculation mounting about a potential Middle Eastern joint bid  -  an option that could be politically strategic and logistically viable. Whether Coventry continues Bach's practice of fast-tracking preferred bidders through exclusive negotiations remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, the question of Russia's place in the Olympic movement still lingers. Russian athletes have faced harsher restrictions in winter sports since the invasion of Ukraine, and with less than eight months before the 2026 Winter Games in Milan, full participation remains in doubt. Though President Vladimir Putin issued a congratulatory message to Coventry upon her election, praising her "high authority in the sporting world," the IOC's suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee  -  imposed after it absorbed four regional sports bodies in occupied eastern Ukraine  -  remains firmly in place.

Coventry has pledged to revisit the IOC's policies on athletes from countries involved in conflicts, indicating she will convene a task force to examine the issue. Her decision could shape the tone of her presidency  -  one that already begins at the intersection of sport, politics, and diplomacy.

Though she inherits a strong institution, the world Coventry leads it into is unpredictable. From geopolitical rifts to internal reform pressures, her first days at the helm will test not only her sporting credentials, but also her ability to navigate one of the most politically sensitive eras in Olympic history.