Pylos, Mar. 21, (dpa/GNA) – Outgoing president Thomas Bach hailed the election of Kirsty Coventry as the first female and first African to lead the International Olympic Committee as the 144th IOC Session in Pylos, Greece, came to a close on Friday.
The highlight of the IOC Session was former Zimbabwean swimmer Coventry being elected by a large majority on Thursday. She will replace German Bach on June 24, with an executive board meeting on her first day.
Bach told a news conference that “diversity and gender equality” were key pieces of the “puzzle” in modernizing the IOC.
“I think it was a very important signal yesterday to demonstrate we are a truly global organization,” he added.
“I was the ninth president of the IOC and eight of them have been from Europe and one from the United States of America, this is not really reflecting the reality of a global organization like the IOC.”
He urged National Olympic Committees and sports federations to follow the IOC’s lead in naming a woman and an African.
Bach said he would give the 41-year-old former gold medallist advice “without the old guy hanging around” and that no decision would be taken over her head before June 24.
“Her opinion will prevail,” he added. Bach, a former Olympic fencing gold medallist, said “being an Olympic champion helped me tremendously” in leading the IOC and he hopes Coventry will feel the same.
Climate change’s impact on both Summer and Winter Olympics will continue to be a “major challenge,” according to Bach, with August being too hot for the Summer Games in some places and snow disappearing at previous Winter Olympic venues.
“I guess sooner or later climate change will have to lead to the change in the international calendar of sport,” he said. “In some parts of the world it is already clear (the Summer Games) cannot be in August. My successors will have to find timely solutions.”
Spreading the Winter Games across disparate venues such as Milan/Cortina in 2026 and across the French Alps in 2030 is a way of limiting the impact of rising winter temperatures given the “dramatically diminished number of potential hosts,” Bach said.
Paris 2024 sets new anti-doping standard
Bach also said he hopes the prolonged row between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) would soon end with “a solution and calm down this heated debate.”
Earlier, the chair of the Independent Testing Agency, Dr Valérie Fourneyron, told the auditorium that the Paris 2024 Olympics had set a new standard in the fight against anti-doping.
Around 90% of athletes were tested before they competed and special attention was given to high-risk sports and delegations.
During the Games, a record 6,100 samples were collected.
“Another key factor in the success of this initiative was the excellent cooperation with the Organizing Committee and the French authorities,” she added.
WADA president Witold Bańka also spoke in glowing terms about how Paris had shown the way for future Games, starting with the Winter Olympics in February in Italy.
“It was the most robust pre-Games testing programme in Olympic history. The standard has been set for 2026 and beyond. We look forward to continued collaboration with the ITA in the build-up to Milano Cortina,” he told IOC delegates in Greece.
GNA