Kirsty Coventry chosen to lead IOC Coordination Commission for Brisbane 2032

Kirsty Coventry adds Coordination Commission chair for Brisbane 2032 to her duties within the International Olympic Committee.

The seven-time Olympic medalist in swimming from Zimbabwe became a full independent IOC member in July at the Session in Tokyo as she was ending her eight-year term as chair of the IOC Athletes Commission.

“It is a great honour to be chosen to lead the Coordination Commission for Brisbane 2032,” Coventry said.

“As a five-time Olympian and former Chair of the Athletes’ Commission, I will always put athletes at the heart of these Games. Brisbane 2032 has an exciting concept which will deliver a great legacy for the region and the country, but most importantly it will deliver great Games for the athletes and for the fans.  Working with such a dynamic Coordination Commission, we can help the organisers with our energy and experience to bring their ideas to life.”

Coventry, 37, is already serving as the chair of the CoComm for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games. A member of the IOC Executive Board until her term ended in July, Coventry was also a member of the CoComm for Tokyo 2020.

She remains a member of the Olympic Solidarity commission and is also Zimbabwe’s sports minister.

Two-thirds of the Brisbane 2032 CoComm Coventry will be leading are women, including Anita DeFrantz of the USA as vice-chair.

The other six women serving on the 12-person commission include IOC members Baklai Temengil of Palau, Dagmawit Girmay Berhane of Ethiopia, Mikaela Cojuangco Jaworski of the Philippines, Princess Reema Bandar Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia, and Auvita Rapilla of Papua New Guinea. Italian swimming champion and Athletes Commission member Federica Pellegrini also joins.

The four men on the commission are World Rowing President Jean-Christophe Rolland from France, the International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons from Brazil, Paraguay’s Camilo Pérez López Moreira and William Blick of Uganda. All are IOC members.

The IOC notes “With an average age of 48, and with the addition of more recently-elected IOC members, the Commission members will also bring a fresh perspective to the preparations” for Brisbane.

Outside of DeFrantz, who has been an IOC member for 35 years, all of the others chosen joined the IOC in 2013 or later.

“Kirsty Coventry is leading an exciting new generation of IOC members in this Commission,” IOC President Thomas Bach said.

“As a double Olympic gold medallist and a former IOC Executive Board member, she has all the experience for this important task.  The Commission will cooperate closely with the Organising Committee to deliver together sustainable and economically responsible Olympic Games.  These will be an exciting experience for the athletes and the fans, and have a solid legacy fully aligned with the IOC reforms of Olympic Agenda 2020+5.”

Meanwhile the IOC commission that handled the Brisbane 2032 bid needs a new chair before it can start traveling the path toward a host for the 2036 Olympics.

Norwegian IOC member Kristin Kloster headed the Future Host Commission For The Games of The Olympiad, as it is officially named, until her election in July to a seat on the IOC Executive Board. No word yet from the IOC President’s office on a replacement yet

Under the new IOC process for choosing future new winter and summer host cities, EB members are disqualified from serving on these commissions.

The current members of the commission include Filomena Fortes, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, Lingwei Li, Luis Mejia, Andrew Parsons, Richard Pound, Paul Tergat, Sarah Walker and Francesco Ricci Bitti.

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