Kirsty Coventry has plenty of complicated issues to tackle as the new president of the International Olympic Committee.
Hosting the 2028 Summer Games in the United States − where President Donald Trump has sparked an international trade war, banned visitors from a dozen countries and orchestrated widespread deportations of residents − is certainly among them.
Yet in her first news conference since officially assuming her role as the highest-ranking official in global sports, Coventry indicated on June 26 that she has few concerns about the 2028 Los Angeles Games. She relayed "reassuring" reports from local organizers about their conversations with government authorities, including at the federal level, and said she is confident that the Games will reflect the Olympic movement's core values.
"There is an incredible willingness to see that the Olympic Games are a huge success," said Coventry, who is the first female president of the IOC. "The reason I mention that is that that gives us faith, as the Olympic movement, that that platform will be there to ensure that our values are stuck to. But (also) that our values will also be heard and that we will be able to ensure successful Games for our athletes."
