Kirsty Coventry says IOC will take lead regarding gender eligibility in sports
The International Olympic Committee will spearhead discussions on gender eligibility criteria in sports, its new president Kirsty Coventry said on Thursday, four years after the ruling body urged federations to handle the issue independently.
Coventry, who officially took over the presidency from Thomas Bach this week following Monday's ceremony in Lausanne as the first woman and first African to hold the position, said she now wanted the IOC to "protect the female category."
She announced the formation of a working group to lead these discussions and another to review the election process for future Olympic host cities.
The IOC has long refused to apply any universal rule on transgender participation for the Olympics, instructing international federations in 2021 to come up with their own guidelines.
"We're going to actually set up a working group made up of experts and international federations," Coventry told a news conference following the first executive board meeting of her presidency.
She also held a two-day workshop for IOC members this week to discuss key issues with them.
"It was agreed by the members that the IOC should take a leading role in this and that we should be the ones to bring together the experts, bring together the international federations and ensure that we find consensus," Coventry said.
"We understand that there will be differences depending on the sports. We should make the effort to place emphasis on the protection of the female category and that we should ensure that this is done in consensus with all the stakeholders."
Transgender athletes are currently eligible to compete at the Olympics.
Some international federations have rules in place, but others have not yet reached that stage.
U.S. President Donald Trump has banned transgender athletes from competing in sports in schools in the United States, which civil rights groups say infringes on the rights of transgender people.
Trump has said he would not allow transgender athletes to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
Coventry said IOC members also wanted to be more involved in the selection process for future Olympic host cities.
Under her predecessor, the IOC executive board presented one preferred candidate to IOC members, who then rubber-stamped that choice.
"There was overwhelming support from the IOC members for a pause to be done, and a review of the future host election process," Coventry said.
"Members want to be engaged more in the process, and secondly there was a very big discussion in and around when should the next host be awarded."
The next Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles in 2028, followed by Brisbane in 2032. The IOC has reported "double-digit" interest for the 2036 Games from countries including India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Germany, Indonesia and Turkey.
No date for a decision on those Games has been set.
The 2026 Winter Olympics will take place in Italy's Milano Cortina, with the French Alps hosting the 2030 edition and Salt Lake City in the U.S. organizing the 2034 Winter Games.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Times
2 days ago
- Japan Times
Kirsty Coventry says IOC will take lead regarding gender eligibility in sports
The International Olympic Committee will spearhead discussions on gender eligibility criteria in sports, its new president Kirsty Coventry said on Thursday, four years after the ruling body urged federations to handle the issue independently. Coventry, who officially took over the presidency from Thomas Bach this week following Monday's ceremony in Lausanne as the first woman and first African to hold the position, said she now wanted the IOC to "protect the female category." She announced the formation of a working group to lead these discussions and another to review the election process for future Olympic host cities. The IOC has long refused to apply any universal rule on transgender participation for the Olympics, instructing international federations in 2021 to come up with their own guidelines. "We're going to actually set up a working group made up of experts and international federations," Coventry told a news conference following the first executive board meeting of her presidency. She also held a two-day workshop for IOC members this week to discuss key issues with them. "It was agreed by the members that the IOC should take a leading role in this and that we should be the ones to bring together the experts, bring together the international federations and ensure that we find consensus," Coventry said. "We understand that there will be differences depending on the sports. We should make the effort to place emphasis on the protection of the female category and that we should ensure that this is done in consensus with all the stakeholders." Transgender athletes are currently eligible to compete at the Olympics. Some international federations have rules in place, but others have not yet reached that stage. U.S. President Donald Trump has banned transgender athletes from competing in sports in schools in the United States, which civil rights groups say infringes on the rights of transgender people. Trump has said he would not allow transgender athletes to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. Coventry said IOC members also wanted to be more involved in the selection process for future Olympic host cities. Under her predecessor, the IOC executive board presented one preferred candidate to IOC members, who then rubber-stamped that choice. "There was overwhelming support from the IOC members for a pause to be done, and a review of the future host election process," Coventry said. "Members want to be engaged more in the process, and secondly there was a very big discussion in and around when should the next host be awarded." The next Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles in 2028, followed by Brisbane in 2032. The IOC has reported "double-digit" interest for the 2036 Games from countries including India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Germany, Indonesia and Turkey. No date for a decision on those Games has been set. The 2026 Winter Olympics will take place in Italy's Milano Cortina, with the French Alps hosting the 2030 edition and Salt Lake City in the U.S. organizing the 2034 Winter Games.
Japan Today
2 days ago
- Japan Today
IOC's Coventry pauses 2036 Olympics hosting contest in 1st big decision of her presidency
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Kirsty Coventry speaks during the opening of the executive board meeting of the IOC, at the Olympic House, in Lausanne, Switzerland, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP) By GRAHAM DUNBAR India's push toward winning the 2036 Olympics hosting contest seemed to stall a little on Thursday in the first big decision of Kirsty Coventry's IOC presidency. Coventry paused the fast tracking of a preferred bidder — a signature policy of her predecessor and mentor Thomas Bach — in a concession to International Olympic Committee members who have wanted more say in decisions under new leadership. 'Members want to be engaged more in the process' of picking Olympic hosts, Coventry acknowledged, citing 'overwhelming support' at meetings this week to stop and review how it is done and when. India has been seen as gaining momentum in the 2036 race that involves at least 10 bidders in talks including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Istanbul in Turkey. In her third full day in office, Coventry promised to create two working groups — to look at how hosts are chosen, and a second analyzing how to 'protect the female category' after controversy in women's boxing at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The two-time Olympic champion swimmer also restated a principled vision ahead of the 2028 Summer Games in the city of Los Angeles, which U.S. President Donald Trump this month called 'a trash heap.' 'We see the best of humanity, we see compassion for others' in Olympic values, Coventry said at a news conference after chairing her first executive board meeting over two days. 'If we can celebrate in the diversity that we are, and that we have, we can really work towards creating something great,' the former sports minister of Zimbabwe said, pledging to try to inspire young people. Olympic officials from LA met with Coventry's board Wednesday and promised a 'unity of effort' in the city where the Trump administration deployed military forces after street protests against immigration raids. 'There is so much goodwill from all levels of government,' Coventry insisted, including federal. 'That gives us faith,' she said, that a platform for the Olympics 'will be there for us to ensure that our values are stuck to but that our values will also be heard.' After Los Angeles in 2028, the 2032 Summer Games will go to Brisbane which was picked 11 years ahead of time in the most secretive of modern hosting decisions. Bach aimed to avoid expensive bid campaigns and contested votes that could lead to negative headlines: rejection by local voters or allegations of vote buying. Instead, the IOC administration talked discreetly with potential hosts with no set timetable to deal exclusively with a bid well-connected in Olympic circles. Under this system, an India bid for 2036 promoted by influential IOC member Nita Ambani, from the family that is the richest in Asia, has looked strong. However, Coventry's strongest opponents in a seven-candidate election she won in March promised to consult more with their 100-plus IOC colleagues than was the case during Bach's tightly controlled 12-year presidency. Her presidency started Tuesday in closed-door sessions with more than 70 IOC members in Lausanne. The result is a reset for the 2036 contest. Still, Coventry confirmed, a bid team from India will continue to make a scheduled visit to the IOC next week. Olympic gold medalists are among 11 candidates for two vacancies to be IOC members when athletes vote at the Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Olympics in February. Chinese pairs figure skater Cong Han, Canadian ski cross racer Marielle Thompson, Ukrainian aerials skier Oleksandr Abramenko and Swiss cross-country skier Dario Cologna will be on the ballot. The two winners will be IOC members for eight years through the 2034 Salt Lake City Winter Games. American 1,500-meter runner Shannon Rowbury was formally confirmed as the bronze medalist from the 2012 London Olympics nearly 13 years later. The IOC reallocated the medals to take account of a doping ban for Tatyana Tomashova imposed in September by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Rowbury crossed the line in sixth place in London in a race notoriously tainted by doping cases for the runners who placed first, second and fourth. Abeba Aregawi of Ethiopia was upgraded to silver on Thursday. The gold medal was previously awarded to Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Times
3 days ago
- Japan Times
Under shadow of Trump warning, Africa pioneers non-dollar payment systems
Africa's push for local currency payment systems — once little more than an aspiration — is finally making concrete gains, bringing the promise of less costly trade to a continent long hobbled by resource-sapping dollar transactions. But efforts to move away from the dollar face strong opposition and the threat of retaliation from U.S. President Donald Trump, who is determined to preserve it as the dominant currency for global trade. The move by Africa to create payments systems that do not rely on the greenback mirrors a push by China to develop financial systems independent of Western institutions. Countries like Russia, which face economic sanctions, are also keen for an alternative to the dollar. But while that movement has gained a sense of urgency due to shifting trade patterns and geopolitical realignments following President Trump's return to the White House, African advocates for payment alternatives are making their case based on costs. "Our goal, contrary to what people might think, is not de-dollarization," said Mike Ogbalu, chief executive of the Pan-African Payments and Settlements System, which allows parties to transact directly in local currencies, bypassing the dollar. An illegal money changer shows Zimbabwean notes and U.S. Dollar notes along a street in Harare, Zimbabwe in 2024. | REUTERS "If you look at African economies, you'll find that they struggle with availability for third-party global currencies to settle transactions," he said. Africa's commercial banks typically rely on overseas counterparts, through so-called correspondent banking relationships, to facilitate settlements of international payments. That includes payments between African neighbours. That adds significantly to transaction costs that, along with other factors like poor transport infrastructure, have made trade in Africa 50% more expensive than the global average, according to the U.N. Trade and Development agency. It is also among the reasons so much of Africa's trade — 84%, according to a report by Mauritius-based MCB Group — is with external partners rather than between African nations. "The existing financial network that is largely dollar-based has essentially become less effective for Africa, and costlier," said Daniel McDowell, a professor at Syracuse University in New York specialising in international finance. Homegrown systems According to data compiled by PAPSS, under the existing system of correspondent banks, a $200 million trade between two parties in different African countries is estimated to cost 10% to 30% of the value of the deal. The shift to homegrown payments systems could cut the cost of that transaction to just 1%. Systems like PAPSS allow a business in one country, Zambia for example, to pay for goods from another like Kenya, with both buyer and seller receiving payment in their respective currencies rather than converting them into dollars to complete the transaction. Using currencies like the Nigerian naira, Ghanaian cedi or South Africa's rand for intra-Africa trade payments could save the continent $5 billion a year in hard currency, Ogbalu said. Launched in January 2022 with just 10 participating commercial banks, PAPSS is today operational in 15 countries including Zambia, Malawi, Kenya and Tunisia, and now has 150 commercial banks in its network. "We have also seen very significant growth in our transactions," Ogbalu said, without providing usage data. The International Finance Corporation, the World Bank's private sector lending arm, has, meanwhile, started issuing loans to African businesses in local currencies. It views the switch as imperative for their growth, relieving them from the currency risks of borrowing in dollars, said Ethiopis Tafara, IFC's vice-president for Africa. "If they are not generating hard currency, a hard-currency loan imposes a burden that makes it difficult for them to succeed," he said. Geopolitics and the Trump factor Africa's campaign to boost regional payments systems has found a platform at the Group of 20 major economies, with South Africa leading the charge as holder of the G20's rotating presidency. It held at least one session on boosting regional payments systems when South Africa hosted a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors. And South Africa wants it to follow up the talk with concrete actions. The next meeting of G20 finance officials is scheduled for mid-July. "Some of the most expensive corridors for cross-border payments are actually found on the African continent," Lesetja Kganyago, South Africa's central bank governor, said during a G20 meeting in Cape Town in February. Kenyan currency notes are pictured inside a cashier's booth in Nairobi in 2023. | REUTERS "For us to function as a continent, it's important that we start trading and settling in our own currencies." Talk of moving away from the dollar — either for trade or as a reserve currency — has drawn aggressive reactions from President Trump, however. After BRICS — a grouping of nations including Russia, China, India and Brazil along with Africans like South Africa, Egypt and Ethiopia — weighed reducing dollar dependence and creating a common currency, Trump responded with threats of 100% tariffs. "There is no chance that BRICS will replace the U.S$. in International Trade, or anywhere else, and any Country that tries should say hello to Tariffs, and goodbye to America!," he wrote on Truth Social in January. In the months since, Trump has demonstrated his willingness to use tariffs to pressure and punish allies and foes alike, a strategy that has upended global trade and geopolitics. No matter its intentions in moving to more local currency transactions, Syracuse University's McDowell said Africa will struggle to distance itself from more politically motivated de-dollarization efforts, like those led by China and Russia. "The perception is likely to be that this is about geopolitics," he said.
