New IOC President Kirsty Coventry, of Zimbabwe, takes office

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Fraser Bullock anticipates IOC President Kirsty Coventry's visit to Utah for 2034 Games.
Coventry, first African woman IOC leader, praised for her engaging, inclusive style.
Coventry emphasizes family, change and youth in her Olympic movement leadership vision.

SALT LAKE CITY — Fraser Bullock is eager for the new International Olympic Committee president, Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe, to come to Utah as the state gears up to host the 2034 Winter Games.

Coventry, at 41, is younger and less formal than her predecessors, became the first woman and first African to lead the IOC in a handover ceremony Monday held in a temporary building on the Olympic House lawn in Lausanne, Switzerland.

"I believe her style is going to fit perfectly with Utah," Bullock, president and executive chair of Utah's Organizing Committee for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, told the Deseret News after representing the state at the ceremony.

"What she has is a very engaging, friendly style. She just pulls you into her warmth of wanting to be all-inclusive of those in the Olympic movement," he said. "She came across as somebody very personable and somebody who wants to connect. That's also been my experience with her."

Bullock, in Switzerland with the organizing committee's CEO, Brad Wilson, and vice president of operations and planning, Darren Hughes, for meetings with IOC staff on Tuesday, said they plan to extend an invitation to Coventry to visit Utah.

From left, Darren Hughes, vice president of the Utah Organizing Committee for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Fraser Bullock, president and executive chair of the Utah Organizing Committee for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Karl Stoss, an International Olympic Committee member from Austria who was chair of the IOC Future Host Commission that evaluated Utah’s Olympic bid, and Brad Wilson, CEO of the Utah Organizing Committee for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, on the steps of the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. An inscription for the 2001 Games in Salt Lake City can be seen near Wilson's feet. (Photo: Frasure Bullock)

Just how soon she'd make what would be her first trip to Utah remains to be seen. Much of the IOC's focus is currently on the world's next Olympics, the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy.

Whenever she makes the trip, she'll like what she finds, said Bullock, the chief operating officer of Utah's first Winter Games, in 2002.

"When she comes to Utah and sees the friendliest state in the country, that has embraced the Olympic movement, I think she is just going to love it," Bullock said, also pointing out that Utah has the youngest population in the United States.

"She represents the next generation, which is the future of the movement. Given she's so young and vibrant, having that tie to that younger generation ... can be a real asset to the Games," he said.

The outgoing IOC President Thomas Bach hugs the new IOC President Kirsty Coventry during the handover ceremony of the IOC Presidency at Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, Monday. (Photo: Laurent Cipriani)

Coventry, a swimmer who won Zimbabwe's first individual gold medal, may well be at the helm of the IOC when Utah hosts a second Winter Games. She was elected by her fellow IOC members in March to an eight-year term that could be followed by an additional four years.

At Monday's hourlong ceremony, Coventry was handed a symbolic key by now former IOC president, Thomas Bach of Germany. It was Bach, the leader of the IOC for 12 years, who announced Utah would host the 2034 Winter Games at a meeting in Paris last year.

The importance of family and friends in keeping her "grounded and focused and humble" was a key part of Coventry's speech, held on Olympic Day , the celebration of the founding of the IOC on June 23, 1894.

The new International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry speaks during the handover ceremony of the IOC presidency at the Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Monday. (Photo: Laurent Cipriani)

"I was very fortunate to have strong women around me from a very early age. From my grandmothers, to my mum, to many of you women here in this room today," she said, including her coach at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, then the mother of a 7-month-old baby.

"My little baby today is 7 months old too," Coventry said, referring to Lily, born during her campaign for the IOC presidency. She offered a special message to Lily and her older daughter, 6-year-old Ella, who beamed at her mother from the audience.

"You are a constant reminder of why this movement is relevant, why it needs to change, why we need to embrace the new ways, and you'll be a constant reminder for many years to come on the decisions that we all take together," Coventry said.

She also thanked her husband, Tyrone Seward, for his support, saying "you have always stood by my side and never said 'No.' And I appreciate that because that is something that doesn't come very often."

As for the IOC and the other organizations involved in the Olympics, she said they are all "the guardians of this incredible platform. And it's not just about a multisport event. It's a platform to inspire. It's a platform to change lives. And it's a platform to bring hope."

Bach, 71, who reportedly backed Coventry in the seven-person race to succeed him as the IOC's 10th president, declared the Olympic movement "in the best of hands."

Coventry's election "sent a powerful message to the world: the IOC continues to evolve," he said, adding "she reflects the truly global nature and the youthful, forward-looking spirit of our Olympic community."

International Olympic Committee President-elect Kirsty Coventry, foreground, and outgoing President Thomas Bach pose with the symbolic key of the Olympic House during the handover ceremony of the IOC Presidency at the Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Monday. (Photo: Quinton Meyer)

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