IT'S OUR TIME, SAYS COVENTRY AS SHE BIDS TO BE IOC BOSS

Kirsty Coventry says it is time that Africa took leadership of the International Olympic Committee. Coventry is also seeking to become the first female president of the IOC.

The  Herald reports that she is one of seven candidates seeking to be voted in as Thomas Bach’s successor when the IOC Session decides in a poll in Athens, Greece in March.

“I felt it was time for Africa now, time for a woman and just time in general. I think when you get to certain pathways in your career, you have to choose whether or not you are going to keep running the race, move forward or not.

“And for us, for me, for my family, for a lot of support that I have received from my African colleagues, from my IOC colleagues, everything felt like the time is now to throw my hat into the ring and again come back to being an athlete . . . that spirit of competitiveness and wanting to see where it will take us.’’

“It will be a milestone! “As a movement, we have been working very hard under the leadership of president Bach to ensure that we are reaching gender equality. Paris (Olympic Games) was the first where we had 50-50 men and women on the field of play.

 “Within the IOC membership, our female membership is now over 40 percent so it has been growing’’.

“Someone asked me the other day whether I had thought about these firsts . . . first woman, first African and I said no, I just thought about where my career was taking me, the experiences that I had, and the value that I believe I can bring to the movement and continue adding to the movement and to serve the movement’’.

Posted in: NEWS