Outgoing International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said he was “very much relieved” to see the organisation’s members unite behind Kirsty Coventry, who was voted in as his successor in Thursday’s election.
Zimbabwe’s sports minister Coventry was seen by many observers heading into the vote as Bach’s preferred continuity candidate, with World Athletics president Sebastian Coe having stood on a reform ticket.
Coventry, who will become the first woman and the first African to hold sport’s highest office, swept to victory in the first round of voting with Coe a distant third, having secured only eight of the 97 available member votes.
Bach said on Friday that female representation among the IOC’s member sports federations remained low, and said the fact the IOC’s nine presidents to date had been eight Europeans and one American did not reflect “the reality of a global organisation like the IOC”.
He added: “I’m very much relieved to see the unity which the election result yesterday demonstrated, so that this important pillar for the success of the Olympic Movement has even been strengthened.
“This is why you see me happy, relaxed and relieved here.
“The Olympic agenda is not about one item or one topic. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle where everything has to come together to give the Olympic Movement new relevance and credibility, and there diversity and gender equality is one of these pieces of the puzzle.”
Coe spoke out during the campaign about the need to “review” the election process, which limited candidates to making a 15-minute presentation to IOC members to outline their manifestos back in January, without the opportunity for members to ask further questions.
IOC honorary member Dick Pound said the voting process “makes the Vatican conclave look like it’s open house”.
Bach defended the IOC process on Friday, however, saying: “This election was a demonstration of the IOC as a global organisation with the highest good governance standards.
“The result is a demonstration of good governance and a demonstration of the IOC as a truly global organisation. This fits very well and is aligned with what we want to achieve with the Olympic Agenda.”
Coventry will officially become president on June 24, and on Friday morning had breakfast with Bach to discuss the handover period.
The German insisted Coventry would have the final say during that period on any issues where their opinions differed.
One of the many issues which Coventry must confront is climate change, with Bach admitting the rescheduling of summer Olympic Games away from August will be an inevitability in the future.
“We will have to look into the overall calendar, and then embed the Olympic Games into into this calendar,” he said.
“And there, the question is really whether it can still be in August, and in some parts of the world it’s already clear that it cannot be in August. This is why my successors will have to find timely solutions.”
