Online Reporter
WORLD Netball (WN), an International Olympic Committee recognised International Sport Federation have become the latest on a global chorus of salutations to congratulate Kirsty Coventry on her recent historic election as the 10th President of the IOC.
Zimbabwean Coventry, who makes history being the first female President of the IOC, was elected during the 144th IOC Session in Costa Nararino, Greece.
And global netball body WN expressed their happiness with Coventry’s victory.
WN President Dame Liz Nicholl said Coventry had been in inspiration to the netball family across the world.
“I would like to send my congratulations to Kirsty on her appointment as the 10th IOC President.
“Kirsty has been a great supporter of World Netball over the years, most recently attending our Netball World Cup 2023 in Cape Town South Africa and joining us virtually as an inspirational guest keynote speaker at our Congress the same year.”
“World Netball is looking forward to continuing to work closely with Kirsty and her IOC colleagues as we proceed with our pursuit for netball’s inclusion within the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games.”
Speaking at WN’s Congress in 2023 Coventry praised the progress being made by WN to grow the game, taking it to new audiences globally and far beyond its Commonwealth roots.
“What we can see with netball, is that they are selecting hosts countries globally, not just staying within the particularly stronger (netball) countries or regions.
“That is really important for the development of the sport, because when fans from different regions get access to coming to watch games live, they fall in love with the sport, they fall in love with the players, they better understand the sport and that is something that I think netball has done very well,” Coventry said.
Continuing to showcase the very best of netball to more people more often, including in various multi-sport games, is a clear strand of WN’s Play strategy, whilst the WN Articles of Association set out that WN will continue to strive for Olympic inclusion, for as long as it is right for the sport.
WN CEO Fiona Harold, along with Netball Australia (NA) CEO Stacey West and NA President Liz Ellis AO recently met with Brisbane 2032 CEO Cindy Hook and Director of Sport Brendan Keane and actively engaged in discussions regarding the potential inclusion of netball in the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games.
Following the meeting Harold did not shy away from the challenges WN will face along their Olympic inclusion journey, but also recognised the opportunities Brisbane 2032 presents, with netball being the number one sport among women and girls in Australia, and a potential gold medal opportunity for the hosts too.
“How do you fast forward seven years and explain to young girls why netball’s not in the Brisbane 2032 Olympics when all other major sports are?
“There’ll be huge pressure from other international federations for additional sport inclusion, especially with LA (2028) having invited five extra sports in,
“So, we understand that it’s a huge challenge, but we’ve made it very clear that we’re starting the journey, we’re in the room, we’re not going anywhere and we’re not going to be deterred by any barriers.
“It’s now on us to go away and actually think long and hard about what an application and a bid would take before we move to the next step,’’ Harold said.
WN and NA will continue to have conversations with the IOC, the Australian Olympic Committee and Brisbane 2032. – worldnetball.com.
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