“When you look at the history, the global south in terms of the host cities is not represented at all”, IOC President Kirsty Coventry.
One of the most important points highlighted by IOC President Kirsty Coventry in her first-ever press conference is that the IOC has now decided to pause and reflect on future-host-city decision-making in an attempt to give every interested party an equal opportunity and make it a level playing field. The organisation is keen to reflect on some of its own decisions and reset if need be. It has all been agreed upon in the most recently concluded Executive Board meeting in Lausanne.
Is there a need to allocate an Olympic Games 11 years in advance? Is it too long a time frame? Are all bidders as well prepared a decade in advance and do all countries work in the same manner?
Somewhere the pause and reflect helps India. While the President was clear in her answer to my question that historically the Global South has been neglected in all these years of the Olympic movement, she also made it clear that her job is to make sure everyone gets an equal opportunity. In fact, that’s where India becomes relevant. We don’t function in India in a manner that we will be ready with our bid details a decade in advance. That’s not in our DNA. But that does not mean we will not put together a good bid or that we aren’t strong bidders. We indeed are but then we have our own rules and at times they are unique. This pause and reflect attempt by the IOC will help it understand this uniqueness better. To grasp every bid better and take a reasoned call.
Let’s be clear-the IOC sooner than later needs to come to the global south. It calls itself a global body that runs the world’s biggest sporting competition and yet it has never travelled to the Global South or the Indian sub-continent. It is a huge gap and not something that looks good on the Olympic movement. And that’s where the IOC’s decision to pause and reflect on how future host cities are decided could favour an Indian bid for 2036.
The IOC President also clarified that the Indian delegation will indeed be visiting Lausanne next week and discussions will go on as planned. In fact, they could well be the first delegation to be meeting the President after the Executive Board agreed on the two terms – pause and reflect – and it could mark a major recalibration in the manner in which India approaches its bid.
In sum, from an Indian bid standpoint, this pause-and-reflect decision is a welcome development. It gives India the opportunity to make up for lost time and catch up with some of the other bidders who have had a bit of a head start. It will also mean that the IOA gets a little more time to get its house in order and stop the infighting that has messed up Indian Olympic sport in the last few years.
Finally, I was impressed with the way President Coventry handled her first press meet and the detailed manner in which she answered every question asked of her. The engagement was insightful and marked a good first in the story of her Presidency.
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