Kirsty Coventry vows to stay humble as the first female president of the IOC

Kirsty Coventry has promised to not let power go to her head when she becomes the first female president of the International Olympic Committee next week.

Her predecessor, Thomas Bach, would always stay in a suite paid for by the IOC at the five-star Lausanne Palace hotel, costing about £2,000 a night, whenever he was in the city. However, the Zimbabwean confirmed her family would not be following suit.

“We won’t be staying in the Palace,” she said. “I really want my kids to grow up doing the same thing that I did, making beds and doing our chores and being kids.”

Coventry, who won seven Olympic medals during her swimming career, said the significance of being the first female IOC president had hit her only when she started reading the messages of support from other women. Asked for more details, Coventry said: “I think I will start crying, so might have to do that another time. But the sentiments were really just around: ‘Thank you;’ ‘You’re such an inspiration;’ ‘This is so incredible.’

“I had a co-worker of mine come up to me. His mom had called him and said: ‘Never in my lifetime did I ever think I’d get to see a woman leading the movement that you’re working for,’ and that was really special. There’s been a lot of moments like that. Those are things I will hold on to in the future, when the road gets bumpy.”

Coventry also made it clear she wanted IOC members to feel free to speak their minds and had invited them to stay two extra nights in Lausanne next week to have a “pause and reflect workshop” to hear their ideas. “The way I like to lead is with collaboration,” she said. “I like people to say: ‘Yes, I had a say and this was the direction that we went.’ That way you get a really authentic buy-in.”

The 41-year-old made it clear she campaigned for the IOC job to change people’s lives for the better and not for the prestige involved. “After I was elected my husband started giggling at the breakfast table and he looked at me and he goes: ‘Do you realise you’re the most powerful person in sport?’” she said.

“And I was like: ‘What are you talking about?’ For me, it’s not about the title. It wasn’t about power. Sometimes those things get in the way and they make you focus on maybe the wrong things. It’s just not who I am.

“But I’m very proud we have elected our first female president. And I’m going to do my best to ensure that it’s a successful journey.”