KIRSTY Coventry has always been Zimbabwe’s Golden Girl, right from the moment she won the 200m backstroke at the 2004, and repeated the trick at the 2008 Olympics.
In the run-up to the elections, she told the media that she wanted the International Olympic Committee (IOC) members “to have confidence in me that I’m the right person”.
“I don’t think it’s just about gender, the same way that I don’t think it’s just about being the only African candidate,” she said.
“It really is about, ‘what does the movement need today'? I think being a double Olympic champion and having the experiences that I’ve had within our movement and outside, all bring a lot of value to ensuring I could lead this organisation.”
As it turned out, she was exactly what the IOC members needed as they voted overwhelmingly to make her the most powerful figure in global sports for the next eight years.
Western media, most notably our British counterparts, have sought to portray her election as “controversial”, and “the preferred candidate of outgoing IOC chief Thomas Bach” simply because their favoured candidate lost dismally.
By any stretch of the imagination, it was a brutal repudiation of the fawning British media’s bias against anything that the old colonial master does not superintend over.
Predictions of a close race between the seven candidates and expectations of multiple rounds of voting, were way off target.
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Coventry won 49 of 97 available votes on the opening ballot to secure an outright majority, with Spain’s Juan Antonio Samaranch Jnr second with 28.
It was a blowout.
United Kingdom’s Lord Sebastian Coe, dubbed “the change candidate and a staunch defender of fairness for women”, managed as meagre eight votes.
By Coe’s own admission, “the athletes, and in particular the female athletes, voted for Kirsty in very great numbers.”
Coventry chose not to employ an expensive public relations team.
According to reports, her manifesto was written by her and her husband.
And the one communications professional who helped her did it for free.
And she still trounced the opposition to become the first female president in the IOC’s 131-year history.
“The young girl who first started swimming in Zimbabwe all those years ago could never have dreamt of this moment,” Coventry told delegates after her victory was announced.
“I am particularly proud to be the first female president, and also the first from Africa. I hope that this vote will be an inspiration to many people.
“Glass ceilings have been shattered today, and I am fully aware of my responsibilities as a role model.”
She proved that she was as quick on her feet as she was on the pool, as she faced a series of verbal grenades about how she might handle the unpredictable United States President Donald Trump in her new role.
“I have been dealing with let’s say difficult men in high positions since I was 20 years old. What I have learned is that communication will be key. That is something that will happen early on,” she responded.
“We will not waver from our values. Solidarity and ensuring every athlete that qualifies for the Olympic Games has the possibility to attend the Olympic Games and be safe during the Olympic Games.”
She was also clear about how she would handle controversies in women sport: “My stance is that we will protect the female category and athletes. I want to work together with the international federations. And we’re going to do that by setting up a task force that will look and analyse everything.”
The responses showed that while Coventry might be inexperienced, she was ready to deal with whatever came her way.
Coventry did not shy away from her current responsibilities as a minister in the administration of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, however distasteful British sensitivies find him to be.
“I don’t believe you can really create change if you don’t have a seat at the table,” she said.
“It’s not been the easiest thing, but I have had incredible support and we are making a difference.
“Having to navigate very sensitive issues has definitely given me extra armour if I can put it that way for what [the IOC] will face in the future, and we’re going to have to navigate difficult leaders that have different opinions on things."
As Michael Payne, the former IOC director of marketing, noted, “there is no doubt that the influence of Africa in world sport will grow because of this appointment.”
Now, Zimbabwe’s Golden Girl has the whole world as her stage. Long may she shine!
