(Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry on her election as International Olympic Committee president on Thursday, saying her “unique experience” would ensure the movement’s advancement.
Putin, in a message posted on the Kremlin website, said the outcome of the election “clearly testifies to your great authority in the sporting world”.
“I am certain that your unique experience and interest in the real advancement of the noble Olympic ideals will ensure your success in such a responsible position,” he wrote.
Putin was the first world leader to call Coventry’s predecessor Thomas Bach when he was elected in 2013.
Moscow wants to have its athletes fully reinstated in forthcoming Olympic Games following a ban imposed over Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
A small number of athletes from Russia and Belarus, which allowed Russia to use its territory to launch the invasion, were permitted to compete in the 2024 Paris Games as neutrals.
Putin’s sports minister, Mikhail Degtyarev, made it plain that Moscow would press for reinstatement.
“We are waiting, in this era of a new leader, for the Olympic movement to become stronger, more independent and more prosperous and that Russia will return to the Olympic podium,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he hoped Coventry would contribute to strengthening “mutual understanding between nations and peoples and making sport accessible to all”.
The head of Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee, Vadym Guttsait, who lobbied hard to keep Russian athletes out of Olympic competition, said he hoped that under Coventry’s leadership the IOC would “continue the fight for peace, equality and inclusivity”.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
