Olympic president Kirsty Coventry starts work with strong IOC and challenges for Los Angeles Games
GENEVA — The world Kirsty Coventry walks into Monday as the International Olympic Committee's first female and first African president is already very different to the one she was elected in three months ago.
Take Los Angeles, host of the next Summer Games that is the public face and financial foundation of most Olympic sports.
The city described last week as a 'trash heap' by U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing to welcome teams from more than 200 nations in July 2028.
Most of the 11,000 athletes and thousands more coaches and officials who will take part in the LA Olympics will have seen images of military being deployed against the wishes of city and state leaders.
A growing number of those athletes' home countries face being on a Trump-directed travel ban list — including Coventry's home Zimbabwe — though Olympic participants are promised exemptions to come to the U.S. Several players from Senegal's women's basketball team were denied visas for a training trip to the U.S., the country's prime minister said.
A first face-to-face meeting with Trump is a priority for the new IOC president, perhaps at a sports event.
Welcome to Olympic diplomacy, the outgoing IOC president Thomas Bach could reasonably comment to his political protégé Coventry.
The six Olympic Games of Bach's 12 years were rocked by Russian doping scandals and military aggression, Korean nuclear tensions , a global health crisis and corruption-fueled Brazilian chaos .
Still, Coventry inherits an IOC with a solid reputation and finances after a widely praised 2024 Paris Olympics, plus a slate of summer and winter hosts for the next decade . Risks and challenges ahead are clear to see.
For the two-time Olympic champion swimmer's first full day as president Tuesday she has invited the 109-strong IOC membership to closed-doors meetings about its future under the banner 'Pause and Reflect.'
'The way in which I like to lead is with collaboration,' said Coventry, who was sports minister in Zimbabwe for the past seven years, told reporters Thursday.
Many, if not most, members want more say in how the IOC makes decisions after nearly 12 years of Bach's tight executive control. It was a theme in manifestos by the other election candidates , and the runner-up in March, IOC vice president Juan Antonio Samaranch , will lead one of the sessions.
'I like people to say: 'Yes, I had a say and this was the direction that we went,'' Coventry said. 'That way, you get really authentic buy-in.'
In an in-house IOC interview, Coventry also described how she wanted to be perceived: 'She never changed. Always humble, always approachable.'
That could mean more member input, if not an open and contested vote, to decide the 2036 Olympics host.
Coventry's win was widely seen as positive for the ambitions of India, and its richest family, to host the Summer Games that will follow Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane in 2032.
Nita Ambani, the philanthropist wife of industrialist Mukesh Ambani, has been an IOC member since 2016 and helped promote India's Olympic bid in Paris last year.
She and Coventry are seen as being close, and the 2036 hosting award is among the biggest decisions pending.
'It is an open question,' Coventry told reporters Thursday. 'For me as a president I need to be able to remain neutral.'
Qatar is bidding for the Summer Games for a fourth time and Saudi Arabia also is interested. A regional Middle East bid could be a political and logistical solution.
A Bach legacy is the policy of fast-tracking well-connected bidders into exclusive negotiations toward a rubber-stamp vote by IOC members.
At some point in Coventry's presidency, Russia could possibly return fully to the Olympic family. It is unclear exactly when less than eight months before the 2026 Winter Games opening ceremony in Milan.
Russian athletes have faced a wider blanket ban in winter sports than summer ones during the military invasion of Ukraine. Even neutral status for individual Russians to compete looks elusive.
Vladimir Putin offered 'sincere congratulations' on Coventry's election win, with the Kremlin praising her 'high authority in the sporting world.'
However, there seems little scope for the IOC to lift its formal suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee imposed in 2023 because of a territorial grab in sports administration. Four regional sports bodies in eastern Ukraine were taken under Russian control.
Coventry said she will ask a task force to review IOC policy relating to athletes from countries involved in wars and conflicts.
The first Summer Games under a female presidency will be the first with a majority of athlete quota places for women.
Another task force is promised to look at gender eligibility issues, after the turmoil around women's boxing and two gold medalists in Paris. The new World Boxing governing body said last month it will introduce mandatory sex testing.
Coventry often states the importance of 'Olympic Values,' which include gender parity, inclusion and inspiring young people through sports. 'That is something that we can never, never, never compromise. And we have to be proud of that.'
The top-tier Olympic sponsor program might have peaked in Paris with 15 partners earning the IOC more than $1.6 billion in cash and services over the past two years.
The sponsor slate is down to 11 after all three Japanese sponsors and US tech firm Intel did not renew, though a major new backer from India is all-but promised.
Total revenue was $7.7 billion for 2021-24, including $3.25 billion of broadcasting revenue in 2024. It helps fund the Olympic Channel media operation in Madrid and about 700 staff in Lausanne. Salary and staff costs topped $250 million last year.
Though the future broadcasting landscape is hard to predict, the IOC has said $7.4 billion already is secured through 2028, and $4 billion for the 2033-36 commercial cycle. That sum was topped up in March with a foundational $3 billion deal.
NBC renewed for two more Olympics through the 2034 Salt Lake City Winter Games and the 2036 Summer Games that look destined for Asia.
The IOC also has a 12-year deal with Saudi Arabia through 2036 to host a video gaming Esports Olympics, though the launch is delayed until at least 2027.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
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‘Our fans are feeling in fear': One year out from the World Cup, Mexico supporters are avoiding matches due to ICE concerns
When the Mexico men's national soccer team comes to Los Angeles, you tend to know about it. In March, when Javier Aguirre's team beat Panama 2-1, 68,212 people packed the stands at SoFi Stadium. Before June 14, the average attendance across the three games that El Tri had played in Inglewood in the last year was 63,760. 'We fill every single stadium because we want to feel closer to Mexico,' says Paco Rubén, founder and coordinator of US-based Mexico national team supporters' group Cielito Lindo, in an interview with CNN Sports. 'It doesn't matter if you're documented or not, we just want to feel that we're in Mexico for a day and live that party.' That all changed on June 14. Amid the backdrop of the Trump administration's federal immigration sweeps – and the resulting protests in LA and across the US – only 54,309 were at SoFi for Mexico's 3-2 victory over the Dominican Republic in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, almost 10,000 fewer than Mexico's average at SoFi over the last 12 months. The attendance was just 4,000 more than the record low at SoFi for El Tri, which came against Canada on a Thursday evening in March when the team had not won back-to-back games for nearly two years. Hours before the game on June 14, tickets that had cost an average of $75 at the box office were being sold on resale sites for less than $30, according to ESPN. 'The experience was completely different from what a normal national team game is like,' Luis Espinosa, founder and director of fan channel Sigo al Tri, tells CNN Sports. 'In the stands, it was a bit of a cold atmosphere.' One of those missing from the stadium was Rubén who, along with the entirety of Cielito Lindo, decided not to attend the match out of solidarity with those affected by the immigration sweeps in LA. 'We all saw the images of what happened a week or two weeks prior to that game, and it just didn't feel like our place was on the field at that moment,' he explains. 'It didn't feel like our place was in the stadium when most of our people – literally most of our members of the movement Cielito Lindo – were either going to be at the protest, or were going to be at home, clearly in fear, just protecting their family.' Rubén and the group did not make the decision lightly. 'I plan everything around the national team schedule,' he says. 'I can't imagine going to a wedding or to a family birthday party or to a family gathering without checking the calendar first and saying like 'Hey, you know what? Mexico plays that day. I can't go to your wedding.' My friends know I'm not lying when I say that.' The decision was also taken by Cielito Lindo – as well as the team's two other principal US-based supporters' groups, Pancho Villa's Army and Patrones de México – to cancel the pregame tailgate parties that are usually such a fixture ahead of Mexico matches. 'For us, (the pregame festivities) are the best time for us to share with our friends and to be able to give that experience to the people,' says Cielito Lindo co-coordinator Livette Ruvalcaba in an interview with CNN Sport. 'Being outside of Mexico, it's already hard enough. So that day is specifically the day we feel the most Mexican, you know? It's a time when families bring their kids, and we want to give that experience to the kids as well. 'Our soccer heart wanted to be there,' she adds. 'So it was just really hard to make the decision. We've been going to support the national team for many years, ever since I was a little girl. Now, as an actual group, it's been over 10 years non-stop that we've been going. 'But it was just really hard for us not to be all together there.' With concerns growing in some circles ahead of Saturday's Gold Cup game that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents might be present at SoFi, for many the decision not to attend was borne not only out of solidarity, but of genuine fears over their own safety and potential future in the US. Those fears were not allayed when US Customs and Border Protection, in a post to social media which has since been deleted, promised to be 'suited and booted' for the first round of the FIFA Club World Cup, which also kicked off in the US on June 14 and features two Mexican teams. The day before the game against the Dominican Republic, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called on US authorities not to carry out immigration enforcement targeting those in attendance. CNN has reached out to ICE for comment on whether its agents have been or will be present at any matches during this year's CONCACAF Gold Cup or FIFA Club World Cup. Reports suggest that the security presence at SoFi on June 14 was normal. 'There were patrol cars and police there keeping watch, but nothing happened like we or other people expected, which was something a bit more violent,' says Espinosa. But it was too late for those who had decided not to attend, many of whom, Rubén says, are still afraid of going about their daily lives and attending upcoming soccer matches. 'Our fans are feeling in fear. Our group members are feeling in fear,' he says. 'Especially because, even if you are documented, the videos we are seeing, it doesn't seem that they're asking anybody if they're documented or not.' Those fears may well have deepened on Thursday when federal agents arrived just outside the parking lot at Dodger Stadium before an MLB game between LA and the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers claimed that they had denied ICE agents entry to the grounds, while the Department for Homeland Security claimed that the agents were not from ICE and that their presence was not related to any operation or enforcement. But, according to Rubén, concerns that ICE may target those in attendance at sports events have been brewing long before the events of the last few weeks. 'For the Gold Cup final (in 2023) at SoFi, Mexico versus Panama, Cielito Lindo sold 800 tickets – that means two sections of the stadium together,' he explains. 'For the final of the Nations League, which happened in March (this year) – but there was already all these rumors about the new administration changes and stuff like that – we only sold 50.' On that occasion, Rubén says, one family which normally buys at least 50 tickets bought just 11, telling Rubén that 'only the documented people are going to be able to go.' 'This was in March, when we didn't see any of the craziness that we've been seeing in the last two weeks. People were already in fear,' says Rubén. Many fans have felt let down by the reaction of the team's manager. When asked to comment on the situation in the buildup to the June 14 game, Aguirre – who was born in Mexico City – replied: 'I'm not a spokesperson for Mexicans. I'm the coach of the Mexican national team.' For Cielito Lindo, it was the final nail in the coffin. 'His words were literally what triggered us to make the final decision of not going because we didn't feel backed up,' Ruvalcaba tells CNN Sports. 'We've always been there,' she continues. 'We do everything to be there and support the team and try our best to pass this on to other people. And hearing those words from him literally broke our hearts because we didn't feel supported. 'I just wanted to cry, honestly,' she adds. 'We were not asking for anything more than empathy.' Aguirre was slightly more forthcoming following the game against the Dominican Republic, but still declined to make a statement on the situation in the US. 'The best way to support them is to give them more than just victory, an effort. People identify with their flag, with their anthem, with their players who give it their all. That's what concerns us,' he said. 'We are football professionals, and it's the best way to represent our fellow countrymen in this moment – a complicated moment. We have to do our part on the field.' But, with Mexican soccer entering one of the biggest years in its history and President Donald Trump's immigration agenda remaining difficult to predict, it seems unlikely that this discussion will simply go away. The June 14 game against the Dominican Republic was the first in Mexico's efforts to defend the Gold Cup title it won in 2023. The win, coupled with a second victory over Suriname on Wednesday night, means that Mexico has already qualified for the quarterfinals. But Cielito Lindo will not be there to see whether the team can retain the crown, having taken the decision on Tuesday night not to attend any of the remaining Gold Cup fixtures. 'We were going to be in (Las) Vegas this weekend, and then we were going to be in Phoenix next weekend, and we were going to be in Texas for the final. So we already had flight reservations, hotel reservations, party reservations, you name it,' says Rubén. 'But it definitely wouldn't feel right leaving our friends and family behind, knowing that they couldn't be there. We have really close friends in particular that were going to be at this game in Vegas with us, and they were just like, 'I can't even go out of my house right now.'' The absence of one of the national team's three largest US-based supporters' groups could indicate the start of a worrying period for Mexican soccer ahead of a busy stateside schedule. Alongside the national team's efforts, CF Monterrey and CF Pachuca are both currently representing the nation against some of the biggest teams on the planet in the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup. Looming even larger is the 2026 World Cup, which Mexico will host for the first time since 1986, alongside the US and Canada. With less than a year until the first game kicks off at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, fans are concerned that further raids could overshadow what is meant to be a joyous occasion. 'We hope this is something that's very short and we can move on from it and just go ahead and celebrate because we are a very happy people,' Sigo al Tri member Rafael Baqueiro tells CNN Sports. 'We hope we can move on from this and keep going towards the World Cup. 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Agents, some in unmarked cars and street clothes, are arresting L.A. immigrants. Who are they?
Immigration arrests in Los Angeles have been headline news and the subject of legal disputes for the past few weeks, but Angelenos watching the drama play out on television and in their communities may be confused about who exactly is putting people in handcuffs and hauling them off. After all, some of the federal agents involved in the raids are in unmarked vehicles, without visible badges, wearing street clothes and covering their faces. Are they U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers or Homeland Security Investigations officials? What is the difference? All these federal agencies are branches of the Department of Homeland Security, which was created to combat terrorism in the United States in the wake of 9/11 terrorist attacks. Its duties include responding to natural disasters, terrorism and homeland security threats, enforcing trade laws (by checking goods coming into and out of the U.S.), as well as managing the flow of people and products at U.S. borders. Three branches of Homeland Security carry out the enforcement of these missions: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. Federal agents were most recently sighted without identifying clothing or badges, sporting face coverings and armed with pistols at Dodger Stadium's entry gates on Thursday. When protesters learned of the officials' presence and demonstrated outside the stadium, they held signs that read "ICE out of L.A." But the officials outside the stadium were actually U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents who "were in the stadium parking lot very briefly, unrelated to any operation or enforcement," the agency said. Confused? 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At the start of the month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials raided a fashion warehouse in downtown Los Angeles and arrested more than 40 immigrant workers, sparking anti-immigration protests across the county. What is ICE's mission? ICE, along with the agency's Enforcement and Removal Operations officials, identify, arrest, detain and remove immigrants without authorization in the U.S., according to the federal agency's website. ERO agents target public safety threats, the website states, such as convicted criminal undocumented immigrants, gang members and those who "illegally re-entered the country after being removed and immigration fugitives ordered removed by federal immigration judges." Read more: What businesses are the feds targeting during L.A. immigration sweeps? Here's what we know Have Homeland Security Investigations officials been in Los Angeles? Two months before immigration officials began aggressive raids across Los Angeles, Homeland Security Investigations officers took part in two separate arrests involving people suspected of being in the country without authorization. In May, HSI officials raided a nightclub and arrested 36 Chinese and Taiwanese individuals there. The location of the club was not disclosed. The officials were also involved in arresting 12 Mexican citizens, suspected of being unlawfully in the U.S. after traveling in a small boat from Mexico to Long Beach. What is HSI's mission? HSI is an agency within the Department of Homeland Security and a branch within Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Homeland Security Investigations focuses on investigating crime "on a global scale — at home, abroad and online," according to the Homeland Security website. 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