Coventry enthroned in the IOC
Switzerland is loss of speed in the Olympic movement
Kirsty Coventry will take the lead of the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday. Host country of the institution, Switzerland only has two members in the IOC.
Even if the federal advisor Martin Pfister (2nd from the left) was seated in the front row on Monday, Switzerland has fewer and fewer members in the IOC.
AFP
- Former swimmer Kirsty Coventry will become the first woman president of the IOC on Tuesday.
- The Swiss presence in the IOC is weakening with only two current members.
- Elected in 1991, the Neuchâtel Denis Oswald explains the reasons for this evolution.
It is very precisely at 12:01 am this Tuesday, June 24, 2025 that Kirsty Coventry will become the first woman to chair the International Olympic Committee, 131 years old. Thomas Bach gave him the keys to the Olympic house this Monday in Lausanne. A takeover that the 41 -year -old Zimbabwean owe to the members of the IOC, who had granted him 49 of the 97 bulletins of the first round of the election last March.
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Its predecessor Thomas Bach has strengthened the female presence and drastically rejuvenated this conglomerate of sports leaders. An evolution which also corresponds to a slow disappearance of the Swiss presence.
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Of the 105 members of the IOC today, there are only two Swiss left: Denis Oswald and Gianni Infantino. Appointed in 1991, the Neuchâtel is one of the oldest elected officials still in office. His Valais colleague, boss of world football, was absent on Monday from the induction ceremony of Kirsty Coventry in Lausanne because of club World Cup in the United States.
“I don’t think we can talk about loss of influence, attenuates Denis Oswald. But it is true that the place of Switzerland has been less marked than in recent years. This is very simply explained, there is no longer Swiss at the head of large international federations, if we are an exception from Gianni Infantino to FIFA. In the past, there was Gian-Franco Kasper at the Ski Federation, René Fasel at ice hockey or Patrick Baumann in basketball. Their role allowed them to be a member of the IOC and it is above all via their respective federation that they had this influence. ”
Denis Oswald had himself presented himself as a candidate for the presidency of the IOC in 2013, bowing to Thomas Bach. Twelve years later, the 78 -year -old lawyer could have been the one who transmitted the torch to Kirsty Coventry. “I have no regrets,” assures the former president of the International Aviron Federation (between 1989 to 2014). Seeing what Thomas Bach accomplished, I do not say to myself: “I would have done as well or better.” He was president at a time marked by a lot of crises, such as wars or the covid. He was up to the stakes. ”
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