Online Reporter
WHILE the IOC’s presidency handover was met with wide acclaim from attending members within the organisation’s swanky Lausanne headquarters on Monday, the outside world keeps grappling with troubling news of armed conflict and social unrest that leave little or no room for sports.
“Russian drone and missile barrage kills eight in Kyiv,” read a midday headline from Agence France-Presse’s wire service just about 30 minutes into the protocolary session in Switzerland.
It was just one of many of such kind, featured in international news outlets, non-stop it seems of late, as the geopolitical landscape that Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry inherits atop the International Olympic Committee keeps unravelling by the hour.
Whether it’s the now three-year-old war in Ukraine, the relentless bombing of Gaza by Israel since the October 7 Hamas attacks or the latest planetary nuclear threat sparked by the United States’ military strikes on Iran this week, the world has unmistakenly shifted towards a more militarised, violent and unstable scenario that bears little resemblance with the one Thomas Bach envisioned when he took over as president of the leading sports organisation, a dozen years ago.
Despite enduring recent turmoil with Russia and having to sidestep the Covid-19 pandemic as the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games were about to kick off, the German official was able to navigate relative tranquil waters during his successive mandates, in which he mostly focused his efforts on promoting the Olympic Movements’ core values internationally, backing the fight against in-competition cheaters by supporting the World Anti-Doping Agency through thick and thin, and building up a robust financial future for the institution he presided until this week.
That is all compromised with an uncertain landscape that goes well beyond the realm of sports and directly affects the lives of millions of people across the globe who, despite the unifying force that athletic participation represents, are inevitably dependant on the success of a common objective, which is none other than achieving world peace.
Bach, who choked back tears at one point during his valedictory speech at the IOC headquarters, was highly praised and affectively embraced by Coventry, who was widely seen as his preferred candidate of the seven vying for his post back in March, despite being the youngest.
The 41-year-old Zimbabwean, who credited him with teaching her to “listen to people and to respect them,” also praised the former fencer for leading the Movement with “pure passion and purpose” while she now hopes to balance a firm grip with a silky touch in handling the mammoth challenges ahead, with a high-stakes get-together with United States President Donald Trump atop her list of priorities. “You have kept us united through the most turbulent times. You left us with many legacies and hope,” she told Bach. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for leading us with passion and never wavering from our values.”
Among the Olympic Movement’s stated fundamental principles are the following:
2. “The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.”
3. “The Olympic Movement is the concerted, organised, universal and permanent action, carried out under the supreme authority of the IOC, of all individuals and entities, who are inspired by the values of Olympism.
It covers the five continents. It reaches its peak with the bringing together of the world’s athletes at the great sports festival, the Olympic Games. Its symbol is five interlaced rings.”
As in the past, such words will surely be put to the test once again, perhaps more than ever, during Coventry’s first term, which is set to last eight years and maybe even a second mandate of four if re-elected.
The former swimmer certainly should have the stamina to lead the charge in upholding them as she will not yet be 50 when the next presidential vote rolls around; yet she is fully aware that she is facing an uphill climb as worldwide tensions flare and extreme political approaches seem increasingly in vogue, leaving less room for diplomacy.
Sport, in turn, is inevitably cornered, also falling victim to conservative directives from reigning governments that aim at weaponising its potential for social change, straying it away from the values depicted in the Olympic charter intended to foster equality, for one.
Coventry’s relative inexperience in dealing with the most powerful world leaders like Trump might prove costly there, although she could as well profit from the blank slate the IOC’s turning of the guard provides.
While Bach felt forced to sanction Russia due to its war with Ukraine, leaving the country and neighbouring Belarus from officially competing in the Paris 2024 Olympics unless its athletes did so as neutrals without displaying official symbols or singing their anthems, he failed to stay the course with Israel, who has kept on showing internationally despite its continued bombing of Gaza, with thousands of civilian casualties mounting up.
Coventry, who was quickly congratulated on election night by Russian President Vladimir Putin as he praised her “high authority in the sporting world”, has so far kept her distance from such matters while vowing to meet with Trump in order to ease concerns regarding the production of Los Angeles 2028.
In a world still largely ruled by men, the mother of two hopes to display a different kind of diplomatic touch by which she has often said that she likes to “lead through collaboration”.
For the time being, all she has stated is that she will assign a task force to review IOC policy relating to athletes from countries involved in wars and conflicts.
Israel’s latest actions on Iran, which Trump has doubled down on, have the whole world on edge at the moment as it awaits reaction from the West Asian nation that has been nurturing a potent nuclear programme for years.
The US, in particular, faces a political and social quagmire which has been deepened in mud ever since the Republican took over from Democrat Joe Biden in January, and has degenerated both home and abroad: Trade tariffs have hurt the economy while random immigration raids have resulted in massive protests and heavy militarisation of cities; more specifically in Los Angeles, where the upcoming Summer Games are scheduled to be held in four years’ time.
With international commerce taking a hit, bad press at the respective national levels and the threat of more wars in the horizon, Coventry takes on the struggle to uphold Bach’s robust internal funding legacy and keep Olympic sponsors in the fold, especially after some already bolted post-Paris 2024 and the Games’ model regarding profitability and sustainability stays under heavy focus.
Monday’s glitzy proceedings on Swiss soil started with the playing of Vangelis’ almost-oneiric “Chariots of Fire” musical theme, which evokes the purity of racing competition and, extensively, sports, while Coventry went ahead and said she could hardly believe how her life had evolved since she first dreamed of Olympic glory in 1992.
“How lucky we are to create a platform for future generations to achieve their dreams,” she stated while stressing that the Olympic Movement is much more than a “platform for multi-sport events. We are guardians of this movement, which is also about inspiring, changing lives, and bringing hope. These things are not to be taken lightly and I will be working with each and every one of you to continue to change lives and be a beacon of hope in a divided world. I am really honoured to walk this journey with you.”
By the end of it all, through the ringing applause of the members in attendance, the ceremony concluded with another iconic song: John Lennon’s “Imagine”, which has served through generations now as perhaps the most recognisable global anthem in favour of a world without divisions or conflict. “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will live as one,” the lyrics go.
While many inside the building, including Coventry, whished it so and some even sang along, outside the bad news kept coming. – insidethegames.com/Sports <http://insidethegames.com/Sports> Reporter
