Olympics - good news!

[ArabellaScott]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/articles/cy4v91e3e1wo

First woman president, and:

'During her election campaign Coventry pledged to modernise, promote sustainability, embrace technology and empower athletes.
She placed particular emphasis on protecting female sport, backing a blanket ban of transgender women from competing in female Olympic sport.'

@ArabellaScott Hopeful. Found this

'Reflecting on her oversight of the Paris Olympics, Coventry cited the cases of Lin Yuting and Imane Khelif, who both won gold medals in boxing despite having previously been disqualified from women's competitions by the International Boxing Association (IBA). "There are lessons to be learned from every situation," said Coventry, describing the Paris Games as a moment for deeper reflection on the issue.'

Its a bit cryptic but is she said this when trying to be elected maybe she is clearer in her speech now she is elected?

https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1151903/kirsty-coventrys-stance-transgender-ban

She was outgoing president Thomas Bach's preferred candidate, and we know what a shitshow he presided over. She's made some of the right noises on sex categories; will she actually act on them?

Very disappointed Coe didn't win

My BIL won a Commonwealth medal at 18 and so was drug tested. He told us about it afterwards. It was a bit of a shock for a lad that 6 weeks earlier was sitting his A levels! 😂

I just caught the end of the press conf on Sky - the Sky reporter phrased his question about transgender people in sport as 'Will you give in to Donald Trump'!!
She gave a waffly answer about discussing with national bodies about the way forward/protecting women's sports etc/when we make a decision we will stick to it.
Sky news then cut away from the press conference.

I was surprised as Sky is relatively neutral on trans stuff - their report on the Sullivan sex/gender data thing today was excellent.

I've seen Coventry being referred to as 'the Continuity Bach' - Coe got very very few votes which is a bit worrying, as he was much clearer than Coventry on women's sport.

Entirely off-topic: how come every non-English sportswoman speaks Americanish?? Even Zimbabwean Coventry! I was expecting her to say 'forsure' any minute!😄
To answer my own question: I guess a lot of them train in the US and pick up US-English. Lesson #1 is obviously 'forsure'.. every Eastern European tennis player says it many many times in press conferences😄

"Couldn't see it coming." Caster Semenya anyone?

She serves in the government of a brutal dictator who oversaw the genocide of the Matabele people, so I’m not holding out much hope.

Quote from recently published article:

When asked whether she thinks trans women should be allowed to compete in women's competitions, she was evasive.

"100% it is necessary to find a solution," Coventry said. "I think that we as the IOC have to take a little bit more of a leadership role."

https://www.dw.com/en/kirsty-coventry-elected-iocs-first-female-president/a-71949782

I would have been happy with Seb Coe. He has been solid on this issue.

It is a bit worrying that she is the establishment candidate, especially if the Olympics are like FIFA where it possible to win by buying votes off poorer countries

@Mumofteenandtween 😳😬😁

Really it sounds like a lot of fence sitting to see how the wind blows. To mix metaphors. Like so many other institutions.

I’m glad that a woman has been elected for a change.

However, she hasn’t been as outspoken as say Seb Coe on the issue of protecting female sport. Maybe as a politician she felt the need to be careful? For me being the outgoing president’s choice doesn’t feel like a ringing endorsement!

It’s actually far less intimate. Current doping control protocols demand that the technician actually observe the stream of urine leave the athlete’s body. It’s as intimate as a gyn appointment.

I think she has being vague enough that she will be a disappointment on the protection of women’s sport. I hope I am proved wrong ☹️.

She doesn’t mention anything about stamping out the endemic corruption that riddles the Olympic movement. Perhaps that’s the quid pro quo - she won’t do anything about that and they’ll allow her the win on female sports.

The fact is we know if Coe had won then we could definitely celebrate the imminent protection of the women’s category. With Coventry winning we can be hopeful but not certain. That is a worry.

yeah, I'm not sure, really.

at Olympic level the DSD issue is a probably now more significant than the trans one. nearly all national teamsare self policing when it comes to sending a TIM to complete in women's Olympic sport - there's a single digit number of countries that would consider such a succession anything other than laughable.

great that a woman got the gig, but a privately educated representative of an apartheid state latterly turned over to corrupt despots wouldn't be my first choice.

I am not that well informed about the IOC and am saddened to hear she is, as it were, part of the establishment.

Because, even without the trans issue, the IOC has not got the best reputation in the world.

Here's hoping now she has this senior position she can maybe stop playing the I must stay in with the in group, and be bold on behalf of women in sport.

Sharron Davies tweeted

'Sad to hear Seb Coe was not elected as IOC president,' Davies wrote on X. I don’t think IOC are ready for change or transparency.

'Seb would have 100% put the athletes first before IOC members allowances & hospitality. Hopefully Kirsty will do as she said before the election & protect women’s sport & we also won’t have the shambles of Paris again where male DSD athletes were allowed to punch females in the face. Pure negligence

'Sadly for me Kirsty Coventry has been on the athletes commission for ten years & not spoken up before to protect female athletes coming behind her. But fingers crossed.'

I wouldn't - I'm glad Coe lost. I used to deal with him regularly in a customer service role when he was a Tory MP, and he's a colossal asshole, just about the most arrogant, rude, nasty, sneery, mean-spirited man I have ever met in my life.

He's no friend of women.

Why were we being led to believe Coe was likely to win this? The vote wasn't even anywhere close?

Except he was the only one who explicitly said he was going to protect the women’s category at the Olympics, so he is a friend to women. That’s probably why he didn’t get voted in.

Thanks for this thread @ArabellaScott.

I'm glad Seb Coe is out. Kirsty Coventry sounds like an improvement.

Well if you were basing that on UK news reporting I suspect a bit of UK bias.

And from the votes cast it really does seem like an inside job.

49 out of the 97 IOC members eligible to vote selected Coventry
Coe only received eight votes, to finish third behind Coventry and Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr (28 votes)

https://www.skysports.com/olympics/news/15234/13332620/ioc-president-election-sebastian-coes-bid-fails-as-kirsty-coventry-becomes-first-woman-and-first-african-voted-into-role

Sean Ingle, who has been consistently supportive of women’s sport, is pulling his punches for now but I thought this snippet was interesting, and not in a good way:
’But, crucially, she had the patronage of Bach, the formidable and powerful IOC president since 2013. Under his watch, over two-thirds of IOC members voting in the election were appointed. And in the final days pressure was applied to deliver the result he wanted.’

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/mar/20/kirsty-coventry-sport-ioc-international-olympic-committee

My biggest concern would be the corruption. How much would it take for a view that women should have a fair and level playing field to 'transwomen are women' when you have coaches and countries searching for the competitive edge and are entirely disinterested in women's rights.