You can give International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry credit for not relying on coachspeak and vague generalities to get through a press conference at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
But maybe she was a little too forthright for her own good, or at least the good of her staff, whom she threatened to fire after a bizarre presser where she did not have answers for multiple questions.
Coventry is a former Olympian herself from Zimbabwe as a swimmer. She won a gold medal in the women’s 200 meter backstroke in both the 2004 and 2008 and has seven medals in total. She is widely regarded as the most decorated Olympian to hail from Africa.
In 2025, she made history as the first woman and the first African to be elected as president of the International Olympic Committee.
While the IOC has not been under the immense pressure as in past years with questions of collusion or corruption. And at least the Olympics hasn’t gifted Donald Trump a ridiculously fabricated “peace prize” either like FIFA. But it doesn’t mean that things are all smooth sailing for Kirsty Coventry in the job.
On the last Friday of the Winter Olympics in Milan, Coventry held an hour long press conference. And on multiple occasions, she said that she was not aware of various issues relating to the Olympics. This included both Germany’s hesitancy to host the 2036 Olympics on the anniversary of the 1936 games in Berlin (hosted underthe Nazi regime) and a New York Times report that Russia’s anti-doping head was involved in the 2014 Sochi Olympics doping scandal.
Finally, it appeared that Coventry had enough of being out of the loop after looking over at her PR team multiple times and even joked that one of them would have to be dismissed for leaving her so unprepared.
International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry snapped at her PR team, repeatedly saying ‘I was not aware’ during a news conference, in response to questions about recent events, including a statement from Germany opposing the 2036 bid due to historical sensitivity. pic.twitter.com/xH2dQNtGCF
— DW News (@dwnews) February 20, 2026
“I’m really looking at my team and maybe someone needs to be dismissed because I’m not aware of that either,” Coventry said. At one point in the press conference, the IOC president said that she would talk to her chief of staff outside the venue immediately after its conclusion.
Of course, everyone at the IOC would be better off if Kirsty Coventry actually knew what was going on in and around the Olympics. It’s easy to throw a team of PR staffers under the bus instead of taking responsibility yourself. Ultimately, the buck has to stop at the top of the ladder. After all, Coventry was elected as president of the IOC to answer these questions, not her PR team. And throwing them under the bus publicly during a press conference isn’t a great look for a leader of a global institution.
As of the moment, there’s no job openings relating to the IOC president’s staff though. At least not yet.
