After IOC election, what are the top Olympic Games priorities?
It is a new dawn and a new day at the International Olympic Committee, with the post-Thomas Bach era beginning after yesterday’s election.
Kirsty Coventry was crowned president of the IOC, one of sport’s biggest and most influential bodies, in Greece last night. She became the 10th president and the first female in the role.
But with great power comes a shedload of responsibility and Coventry has a stacked in-tray to get through with the next major event – the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan – less than a year away.
The outgoing Bach insisted he would be available to offer advice, but that he might not pick up the phone… which is helpful. So what are the burning issues for the new IOC president?
Trump, Russia and the right to host
Whether they like it or not, the new IOC boss will need to have President Trump on their side. The former Apprentice star will undoubtedly be front and centre in 2028 when the USA hosts the LA 2028 Olympic Games, just months before the next Stateside election.
Trump will want to be the star of the show, and he’ll need to be appeased when it comes to issues such as transgender participation, competing nationalities and requirements needed to enter the US in three years time.
But bigger than the Olympics, Trump seems insistent on being the figure that brokers peace between Israel and Palestine, but also Russia and Ukraine.
There have been discussions surrounding ice hockey matches between the US and Russia to help integrate the isolated state back into the world of sport. Much like North Korea’s involvement in the Pyeongchang Olympics as part of a unified Korea, which had a mixed women’s ice hockey team, could Russia use the Winter Games as its homecoming?
Furthermore the IOC will soon be looking at the next swathe of Summer Olympic Games hosts. Saudi Arabia and India are leading the race for 2036, with Indonesia reportedly considering a bid.
All three nations would be first-time hosts but the politics of favouring or rejecting the Middle East versus taking the Olympics to the world’s most populous country will be an interesting watch.
Likewise climate change will soon play a larger part in the Winter Games, with some concerns surrounding the viability of taking snowsports to new cities due to dwindling snowfall.
Can the IOC therefore justify a Winter Games in the desert with an artificial set-up if a nation offers? All part of the day-to-day running of the International Olympic Committee it seems.
Cash in the bank
Money does in fact make the world go round but the Olympics has clung to a holier-than- thou approach to (not) paying participants, suggesting athletes should use it as a platform rather than a cash cow.
But athletics awarded prize money for its gold medallists from Paris 2024, while boxing also offered rewards. And with a commercial juggernaut that is the IOC running the sport – revenues were up 60 per cent under the Bach era – more athletes will want a payout.
And to pay for it? The International Olympic Committee extended its partnership with Allianz through until the 2032 Games this month having added Chinese consumer electronics company TCL in February alongside an extension to Budweiser maker AB InBev.
But it has lost Panasonic, Toyota and Bridgestone over recent months and the new president will need to get working on replacing those.
The financial moves the IOC now chooses to make will be crucial to the future of the Olympic movement, especially with the rising costs of hosting the Games. Throw in paying medallists and the costs will rise for the committee, too.
So in this new era of Olympic governance it will be interesting to see whether Coventry follows Bach’s thinking, or rips up the book and drags the IOC kicking and screaming into a brand new way of doing things.
It’s no easy task.