Major transformations within the Olympic Movement do not always come with spectacular reforms or changes to the Olympic Charter. In many cases, they are built through apparently isolated decisions that, when analysed together, reveal a clear political direction. That is exactly what is happening in the first weeks of Kirsty Coventry’s mandate at the head of the International Olympic Committee.
The approval of the 2025 Annual Report during the 146th IOC Session, the doubts surrounding one of the planned venues for Brisbane 2032, the refusal to recognise Greenland and the Faroe Islands as new National Olympic Committees, and Belarus’s return to continental competitions are all part of the same picture. Four different issues that show how the IOC intends to strengthen its role as the institutional, financial and political axis of world sport.
Money as the main argument for legitimacy
One of the most relevant messages from the Annual Report approved by the IOC almost goes unnoticed among the economic data. The organisation says it allocated around 600 million dollars to the Olympic Movement during the first year of the 2025-2028 cycle through direct contributions, activities, programmes and projects.
The figure has a much deeper meaning than the purely financial one. At a time when many international federations continue to depend heavily on the IOC’s economic redistribution, this message also helps reinforce the institutional legitimacy of the new presidency.
The IOC does not only regulate the Olympic Movement. It remains its main financial stabiliser. This is an especially important idea for National Olympic Committees, which maintain a large part of their programmes thanks to Olympic Solidarity, and for international federations that are increasingly concerned about the sustainability of their competitions.
Brisbane 2032 tests the new Olympic model
The review of the project to stage the rowing and canoeing events on the Fitzroy River shows that the flexibility promised by the IOC to reduce costs also carries risks. Concerns over the presence of crocodiles, currents, potential flooding and the equality of competition conditions have forced World Rowing to review the technical suitability of the venue.
Beyond the anecdote, the debate directly affects the organisational model of Brisbane 2032. The commitment to using facilities spread across different regions aims to reduce investment and make use of existing infrastructure, but it can also create conflicts when political decisions clash with the technical needs of each sport.
The IOC and the recognition of new countries
Another decision with major institutional significance has been the rejection of Denmark’s request for Greenland and the Faroe Islands to be allowed to compete as independent Olympic teams. The IOC has reiterated that only independent states recognised by the international community can obtain recognition, thereby maintaining the criterion established since the mid-1990s.
The decision closes, at least for now, one of the main debates on sovereignty within the Olympic Movement. It also avoids opening the door to new applications from other territories with different degrees of political autonomy, a scenario that could alter the institutional balance built over recent decades.
Neutrality through concrete decisions
After the Executive Board lifted the restrictions affecting Belarus, and after the International Volleyball Federation took the first step in May, the European Volleyball Confederation is preparing to allow the return of the Belarusian men’s and women’s national teams to continental competitions.
The move has clear political value. Reintegration is no longer just a statement of principle from the IOC, but is becoming a competitive reality within continental federations. At the same time, it confirms that Belarus’s return process is moving faster than Russia’s.
In just a few weeks, Kirsty Coventry’s presidency is beginning to make some priorities clear. Maintaining the IOC’s financial capacity as an element of cohesion, preserving the institutional architecture of the Olympic Movement, moving neutrality from the political sphere to the sporting one and showing that the organisational flexibility of future Games cannot compromise the safety or integrity of competition. Four different decisions that, together, outline the path the International Olympic Committee intends to follow in the coming years.
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