PuraVida Sports

Part Two

With Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa having appointed country’s military boss to replace newly-elected International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry as Sports Minister, Coventry reflects on highlights of her seven years in the Harare Cabinet

By Elias Makori in Costa Navarino, Greece

President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Tuesday appointed Zimbabwe’s military boss to replace newly-elected International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry as Sports Minister.

Mnangagwa said Gen. Anselem Sanyatwe, Commander of the Zimbabwe National Army, has replaced Coventry who had indicated she would resign from the ministerial job and move to the IOC’s headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, to start her eight-year Presidency in June.

The 41-year-old decorated swimmer won the vote for the IOC Presidency in Round One with 49 of the possible 97 votes at the 144^th IOC Session in Costa Navarino, Greece, last week, defeating Spain’s favourite Juan Antonio Samaranch Junior (28 votes), World Athletics President and Olympic track legend Seb Coe (eight),  Frenchman David Lappartient and Japan’s Morinare Watanabe (four each) and Swedish-British Johan Eliash and Jordan’s Prince Feisal Al Hussein (two each).

“I will be moving to Lausanne…. I will have the conversation with my President in Zimbabwe (Mnangagwa). There is no way I can do both (be IOC President and Sports Minister),” Coventry had said after her election.

After retiring her swimsuit as Africa’s most successful Olympian with seven medals, two gold (from Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008), four silver (one from Athens, four from Beijing) and one bronze medal (from Athens), Coventry launched her foundation to help develop swimming talent in Zimbabwe.

“I wanted to give back to a community that had been so supportive of me. I set up my foundation (Kirsty Coventry Academy) and a learn-to-swim school to focus on teaching kids how to swim as swimming had become quite popular after I was successful

“With the foundation, we focused on going to underserved areas and providing a safe space for kids between the ages of six and 13 to play different sports – we had basically five different sports: rugby, basketball, soccer, netball and swimming.

“The model that we used is we found coaches and young people that wanted to be coaches and got them trained through national federations, and, in return, they then gave us two hours a week to come and train these kids.

Appointed Sports Minister

“It was awesome to see the programme grow very quickly. When I was (in 2018) given the role as (Sports) Minister, we did not want there to be any conflict so we put the foundation on pause. We did not want any questions raised about where money was coming from, or if the foundation would be getting specific treatment when money should be going into the country, and so I felt it was really important to put it on pause, but we still help some of the coaches.

That led me into stepping into Minister of Youth and Sports in Zimbabwe in 2018, not something I thought I was ever gonna do… it took me by surprise, to be honest. 

The announcement was made on a Friday afternoon, and we had just finished the African Athletes’ Forum and we had some of the IOC team coming. We were at lunch celebrating that it was such a great forum and then the phone rings, ‘you are minister’ and I was like ‘I’m sorry, what!?, What do you mean? Minister where?…

We took the weekend to talk to a lot of my mentors and see if this is something I should do, and at the end it was very clear to me that I wanted the opportunity – even though it came with a lot of criticism – to try and make changes that I knew were in the system, because I had been an athlete for Zimbabwe and so I knew the things that needed to change.”

Two Pieces of Legislation

Coventry has endured a chequered spell at the Sports Ministry since her appointment as a technocrat in 2018.

“It has been a journey, for sure, but right now some of the best things we have been working on are two pieces of legislation, one that will lean more into the sports community and the other one that will protect against match-fixing which is a very big thing for our region with cricket, rugby and soccer games. 

But not just match-fixing, but abuse, sexual harassment and anti-doping.

These are just two pieces of legislation, one that we are repealing, that was very outdated, and one that had never been done before. 

We are starting to see confidence from the private sector that’s starting to come back into sport which is really important. We had lost a lot of that.

Our athletes and federations are doing a lot better than they were. We had two finalists in the 200m track and field in Paris – we had never had a finalist since I last competed, which was a long time ago.

I’m really proud of the work that I have done, but I’ve not done it alone. I have an incredible team on the ground in Zimbabwe that’s been very strong in making strong decisions and pushing specific things forward and standing our ground, which has not always been easy.

“I believe it really taught me some valuable lessons that I know will help me in this role (IOC President) as we move forward.”

On Zimbabwe Politics

Despite having served as Sports Minister since 2018, Coventry was never a politician, but was appointed to the Cabinet as a technocrat.

“Our Constitution in Zimbabwe allows for the President to elect seven independent members, so we do not belong to any political affiliation and purely come in as technocrats. I was appointed as one of those seven.

When I went to the President and told him I was running for this (IOC President’s) position, he was very supportive, as were all of my colleagues, but I did have to remind him a few times that ‘when we are successful, you will have to find a replacement,’ and he looked at me and was like, ‘mmmh, OK.’

Everyone at home has been very supportive. 

There are very good people in Zimbabwe and when I get home, I will go and sit with His Excellency and share a few ideas with him on whom I have that can step into this role and continue with the work.”

Zimbabwe’s Fifa Ban

World football governing body, Fifa, is always quick to suspend national federations where there is perceived “government interference” and Coventry found herself in such a situation as Sports Minister when her actions led to the suspension of the Zimbabwe Football Federation (Zifa) in February, 2022, alongside the Football Kenya Federation.

“We had to suspend two of our members, Kenya and Zimbabwe, both for government interference in the activities of football associations. The associations are suspended with immediate effect. They know what needs to be done for them to be readmitted or do for suspensions to be lifted,” Fifa President Gianni Infantino said while enforcing the suspension.

Subsequently, Coventry faced intense criticism at home following the ban. 

Just how did she navigate these murky football waters?

“I have to say that the conversations with Fifa right from the get-go had been very good and very open, and I understand why they had to take the decision that they took when we stepped in,” she responded.

“But the good thing is that that dialogue and communication continued, and also with Caf (Confederation of African Football).

We were very strong, because we knew the consequences but we were ok with it because we really needed to fix a problem that had been there for a long time, and we didn’t wanna rush it. We wanted to take our time, though Caf, Fifa and others wanted us to move a little quicker…

But when you are trying to create a culture change, it does take time – you can’t rush it, you’ve got to make sure you’ve got the right people with the right intentions coming into positions.

After 18 months we came back and we had a Normalization Commission and we’ve been working really well. They have just elected a new Zifa President and Board and there are really strong things, like there is gender equity in the Board.

The first thing the Board did was increase women’s pay, which had been so so low. 

When these tough decisions have to be made, at the end of the day you hope it will bring change for good and in this instance, it really did! 

• elias.makori@ymail.com

Part Three tomorrow: Coventry touches on the importance of infrastructure development, how the Olympic Solidarity Programme catapulted her to Olympic glory, her leadership philosophy and why she loves challenges.