Online Reporter
KIRSTY Coventry says there are differences between her candidature for the IOC president and the current leader of the Olympic movement Thomas Bach.
Coventry, who is one of seven candidates for the IOC presidency, spoke for more than an hour during an online forum with 98 members of the media from around the world on Monday in a meet-up arranged by the International Sports Journalists Association (AIPS).
She continues to pitch her historic campaign to be the next IOC president on a manifesto based on the philosophy of Ubuntu.
“We have a completely different leadership style,” Coventry, who is the Minister of Sport, said.
“My manifesto, as most of you have seen, is all based on the Ubuntu philosophy, which is ‘I am because we are’ and I know that I have only ever been successful because of the people and the team around me, and that would be how I want to lead.
“I think the way in which the IOC communicates would need to change.
“I would want to make sure that the members are not just being heard, but are actually being quite active and sharing their experience and their knowledge.”
At 41, she is the youngest of the candidates and the only woman in the field, but with a long history within the IOC, especially as the head of the IOC Athletes’ Commission.
Asked about how she will approach the presidency if elected, she said:
“What I feel right now, whenever there’s a new shift, there’s a change in the organisation, it’s time for us to have a little bit of a pause and I want to just take a pause, evaluate where we are, what is it that we — as an organisation — want to continue doing.
“We know that the Olympic Games are our heartbeat, right, and then you have all of our incredible stakeholders, our athletes, and the next layer, our (National Olympic Committees) and (International Federations).
“How and what are we going to continue to fight for?
“What is it that we get rid of and we need to shed? And what is it that we need to change and adapt to be relevant in today’s world.
“So that will be a big piece of work and I would like to start very early on.”
She said the challenges she has faced as Sports Minister would help deal with the challenges of leading the IOC.
“I’ve been able to navigate these last seven years, I believe, really well … I’ve been able to do that because I’ve had a solid and strong team who have been willing to take tough decisions, because it’s been the right thing to do.
“So we’ve been led by our values and that’s really what we’ve been trying to change.
“I have been fortunate enough in Zimbabwe to have been able to do that. The decisions that you make are not always going to be popular. But generally, when they’re not popular decisions, they’re generally the right decisions.” — Agencies.
