Kirsty Coventry used her address to the IWG Global Summit on Women in Sport in Birmingham to champion gender equality and outline how the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is advancing this under her presidency.
Coventry, who became the first woman and first African to lead the IOC in 2025, linked her remarks to the organisation’s Fit for the Future agenda, adopted by the IOC Session in June. The reforms are intended to guide the Olympic Movement’s long-term strategy and include gender equality among their priorities.
“A breakthrough matters – the first woman to lead,” she said. “But the real test is what happens after that. Do we simply admire the person who broke through, or do we make sure she opens the door wide enough for others to walk through behind her?”
Leadership and representation
Coventry reflected on the women who shaped her own career, including her coach, Kim, who supported her development at a time when female coaches were far less common in elite sport.
“She was leading her team, raising a family, showing up every single day, and for me that was normal – and more importantly it was powerful.”
When Coventry was campaigning for the IOC presidency, she was pregnant with her second daughter. “She was born just months before the election, so I travelled with a young baby and it never occurred to me for one moment that I needed to hide that part of my life.”
Coventry argued that women should not feel compelled to imitate male leadership styles in order to succeed.
“For too long we have been told that to be taken seriously women must lead like men. I don’t believe that,” she said. “We need women to lead with confidence in who they are.”
The IOC’s gender-equality agenda
The IOC has already reached gender parity on the field of play at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Coventry said the organisation is now working towards the first gender-equal Olympic Winter Games at the French Alps in 2030.
She said the next phase must focus on increasing the number of women in coaching, officiating and senior decision-making roles across sport. The IOC is leading by example here, with women making up 43 per cent of IOC Members.
“When organisations place women in positions of real responsibility, they send a very strong message to the next generation that your voice is needed and heard.”
Coventry also called on sports organisations to set goals and measure progress on gender equality, and to make sport safer and more inclusive for women and girls.
“Sport can only have impact when opportunity is real, when a girl feels safe at training, when she has access to a coach who believes in her, when she can see people like herself in positions of leadership, when her family and community understand that sport is not a distraction from her future… that is why this work is important.”
Protecting the female category
She also addressed the issue of eligibility criteria.
“Early in my presidency we took an important decision to strengthen the protection of the female category in elite sport. It is about making sure that biological female athletes can compete at the Olympic Games in conditions that are fair and safe.
“More broadly, Fit for the Future is about keeping the Olympic Movement strong, relevant and impactful in a changing world.”
A shared responsibility
Coventry said the IOC could not achieve these changes alone and emphasised the need to work with governments, civil society, the private sector and men.
“Gender equality is not a women’s issue,” she said. “Men must be allies… Women must be supported not just when they break through, but throughout their entire journey.”
Coventry said the success of her presidency should be measured by whether it creates opportunities for more women to follow.
“That is how we move beyond the breakthrough – not by celebrating the first woman forever, but by making sure she is never the last.”
