Kirsty Coventry visited TODAY six months after being elected the first female president of the IOC.
Six months after being elected the first female IOC president, Kirsty Coventry detailed what she hopes to bring to the Olympic Movement in an interview on TODAY on Wednesday.
"I want to be able to give back to this movement that has given me so much," said Coventry, who swam for Zimbabwe at the Olympics (2000-16) and won seven medals. "I want to help athletes on their journey and after their journey. I want us to be working as stakeholders to ensure the Games remain relevant and remain a space of inspiration, especially in a very divided world, because the athletes showcase the best of humanity to everyone. Those values and those inspirational moments that they give us and their stories, right? This is what we love and what you guys at NBC love. The stories of the triumphs and the letdowns and the failures, but how they get back up and how they're resilient. They just showcase the best of what and how we should all be acting daily."
Coventry recently visited the host of the next Olympics — the Milan Cortina Winter Games in February 2026.
"Italy is just known for its landscapes, right, the beautiful landscapes, the family feel, the passion that Italians have for sport," she said. "They're ready to put on a show. It's going to be a beautiful show."
For future Summer and Winter Games, Coventry's priority is to bring out the spirit of the Olympics.
"My goal over the next few years is to find how we can showcase that in a really authentic way," she said. "I think that the younger generation expect that. They want us to be responsible. They want us to be showcasing our values and what we stand for. That's really important for me. As I said, our athletes are at the heart of everything we do, but finding more ways to better support them, finding more ways to bring their stories to light. That's, I think, where the special moments are."
Category: General Sports
