On February 6th she will open her first Olympic Games: the new IOC president Kirsty Coventry. She has been in office for six months. The IOC’s story sounds promising: for the first time it is a woman, young and from Africa – that brings new beginnings and change. The sports show went looking for clues in its home country of Zimbabwe – and came across a different story.
“I will lead this organization with so much pride and with our values and make you all proud”said Kirsty Coventry after her election as IOC president in Greece in 2025. Coventry has since become the most powerful woman in world sport – previously she was part of the government as sports minister in her native Zimbabwe, a country in southern Africa. Journalists are rather unwelcome there.
The sports show had to wait six months before it was allowed into the country to report. The situation there is oppressive: the majority of the population is fighting for daily survival. People are arbitrarily arrested and all opposition is suppressed.
Coventry on the side of the despot Mugabe
Kirsty Coventry is this country’s sporting superstar. She celebrated her greatest triumph at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing: four medals, including gold in her flagship discipline: 200 meters backstroke – in world record time. With seven Olympic medals in total, she is Africa’s most successful athlete to date.
After the successes, one man often appeared at her side: Robert Mugabe, the then President of Zimbabwe. Mugabe was once a beacon of hope for democratic change in the former colonially oppressed Rhodesia, which has been called Zimbabwe since independence. Instead, however, he developed into one of the worst despots on the continent, responsible, among other things, for the Matabeleland massacres, in which around 20,000 people died.
For three decades, Mugabe was untouchable, he ruled by force and called himself the “Hitler of our time.” In 2017 he was forced to resign following a military coup. Kirsty Coventry’s great successes as a swimmer came during Mugabe’s term of office. He is looking for proximity to his superstar, calls Coventry his “Golden Girl“. For her success in Athens in 2004, she received $50,000 from the empty state treasury, and in 2008 another $100,000.
Mugabe’s successor appoints Coventry Sports Minister
And the regime is paving the way for Kirsty Coventry to enter government: in 2017, Mugabe’s former ally Emmerson Mnangagwa took power after a military coup. He is partly responsible for the regime’s human rights violations. Mnangagwa forms his first cabinet and appoints Coventry as minister for sport, education and culture. She has no experience in running an administration.
“For me personally, this is an exciting time and a great opportunity to empower young people – through sport, art and leisure activities.”said Coventry at the time. How did she get to the position, why did she make a pact with a government that is accused of massive human rights violations? Coventry himself did not want to give ARD an interview for the film.
Human rights lawyer: “Only yes-men have a place in government”
Human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa tells Sportschau: “They want yes-men. If you’re not a yes-man, you have no place in the government. In Zimbabwe’s government, jobs are no longer awarded based on performance. Performance no longer counts.”
Beatrice Mtetwa, human rights lawyer
Mnangagwa’s party, of which Coventry is not a member, has a firm grip on the country. Coventry never publicly opposed the government of which she was a member. Her predecessor, today’s opposition politician David Coltart, says: “I haven’t had any direct contact with Kirsty since around the beginning of 2019. At that time, the military was killing people again and I contacted her and expressed my concerns directly – not as criticism, but saying that as a member of the Cabinet she had shared responsibility for what was happening.”
Coventry: “I knew it would bring criticism”
In March 2025, Kirsty Coventry’s big moment in sports politics will come. At a luxury resort in Costa Navarino, Greece, she is elected as Thomas Bach’s successor as IOC president. Coventry was Bach’s preferred candidate. She prevailed against some well-known competition in the first round of voting with an absolute majority.
After her election, she then briefly commented on her time as a minister in Zimbabwe. “I knew that my time in government would attract criticism”said Coventry. “But I don’t think you can sit on the sidelines and scream and protest and bring about change. I think you have to sit at the table and be strong enough to bring about that change from within.”
Coventry is now on the biggest stages in the world as IOC President and has access to heads of state. Their narrative of having brought about change is being spread by the IOC. “She can’t clear herself like that – it’s impossible. She joined a government that she knew had blood on its hands.”says former Zimbabwe finance minister and current opposition politician Tendai Biti.
Tendai Biti, former Finance Minister of Zimbabwe
Did Coventry get their farm allocated by the government?
And there is another topic that concerns people in Zimbabwe: Kirsty Coventry’s farm. It is located about three hours north of the capital Harare. In 2020, the sports minister was awarded this by the government.
No issue is as controversial in Zimbabwe as the political treatment of land. As in colonial times, after Zimbabwe’s independence, a few thousand white farmers owned 96 percent of the best farmland – and thus controlled the country’s economy. Mugabe’s answer in the noughties: the so-called land reform. For years, white farmers were sometimes violently dispossessed, thousands had to flee, and some were killed. The political elite distributed the best land among themselves.
Shortly after her farm was preserved, Coventry came under heavy criticism because people were also forcibly evicted from there. “She profited from the farms. And anyone who really thinks about how those farms were taken away from white commercial farmers – she shouldn’t have taken them if she really cared about human rights.”says human rights lawyer Mtetwa. “Of course it was her proximity to power and the president that was responsible for her getting this farm.”
The previous owner of the farm filed a lawsuit against them because his land had previously been confiscated from him by the government. A court decided that the properties were different and ended the proceedings. The IOC points out that the court in Zimbabwe ruled that everything happened legally. Kirsty Coventry would also have had the blessing of the land’s former owners before land reform. When asked by Sportschau, members of this family said they did not want to be portrayed that way.
Accusation: Coventry allowed its infrastructure to deteriorate
And then there is the National Stadium. The biggest excitement in the football-loving country. The stadium has been under construction for years and its reopening has been repeatedly postponed. Kirsty Coventry is also held responsible for this. “In fact, she can be described as the worst sports minister in this country”says human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa. “During her tenure, Zimbabwe’s infrastructure deteriorated to such an extent that the national team can no longer play football matches in Zimbabwe because there are no stadiums that meet the criteria required by FIFA. This happened under their responsibility.”
The team has to play every game abroad, says Nqobile Magwizi, president of the football association: “The fans are extremely upset.” The IOC writes that funds for sport in Zimbabwe are limited, so Coventry has given priority to supporting athletes. Hundreds of athletes would have been able to take part in competitions that they would have previously missed.
Coventry pushed ahead with sexual assault investigations
Another legacy of her time as sports minister actually brought about lasting changes: Coventry made public that senior football officials had sexually assaulted female referees and took the side of women. The allegations were later partially proven. The government then dismissed several officials.
However, such state intervention in sport is not permitted by FIFA. The result: The Zimbabwe Football Association was suspended for 18 months and given new leadership.
Coventry rated the 2023 election as a success – despite the violence
Not the country. President Mnangagwa is running for re-election in 2023. The opposition thinks they have good chances. But there is repression again, political opponents of the ruling party are being arbitrarily arrested. In some parts of the country there are deadly riots and arson attacks against opposition members. International observers later spoke of an election that was neither fair nor free.
Kirsty Coventry comes to a different verdict: “In 2023 we had the second presidential election, and it was the first time in over 20 years that there was no unrest and no violence”she says about the election in 2025. “Things are improving, things are moving forward. It takes time, but I know that the work I have done in Zimbabwe will benefit the welfare of Zimbabwe’s youth.”
Former finance minister Biti calls this description of the 2023 election a joke. “This election was a complete disaster”he says. President Mnangagwa won an absolute majority, Kirsty Coventry became sports minister again in his cabinet – and two years later IOC president.
Handing over the keys in Lausanne: Kirsty Coventry (l.) with predecessor Thomas Bach
After Coventry’s election in March 2025, Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa also appeared with her. “I congratulate Kirsty Coventry,” he said. “You make us proud, my little girl.”
