International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry visited the sailing competition at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games on Monday.
Coventry was joined at Saly Beach West by World Sailing President Quanhai Li, and before heading out to watch the racing the IOC President – a former Olympic swimming champion – had a windsurfing lesson from three Olympic windsurfing gold medalists.
Her instructors were Italy’s Alessandra Sensini, France’s Charline Picon and New Zealand’s Barbara Kendall. The group then went out onto the course to watch the racing, before finishing with a swim race back to the beach.
“Today we had the visit of the IOC President, and she had her first windsurfing lesson,” said Picon. “Three teachers for her . . . I think she enjoyed it.”
In June this year, new IOC President Kirsty Coventry introduced the Fit for the Future policy document.
This initiative is the IOC’s new process methodology for assessing sports for the future to shape a more relevant, flexible and sustainable Olympic Games by increasing broadcast attractivity, social media appearance and continuous storytelling.
The IOC also brought forward the date for the decision to confirm the incumbent disciplines for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic programme to December 2026.
Sailing is listed in the initial programme for Brisbane 2032, but could fall foul of the more focused guidelines of the Fit for the Future policy as the IOC looks to remove sports that have failed to move with modern expectations.
This has caused some concern within World Sailing for the future of Sailing at the Olympics, and the Equipment Committee has Recommended the Replacement of the Olympic Kite event with the popular Wingfoil board event, while also requesting more time to look at the likely effect of the Fit for the Future policy on sailing.
The World Sailing General Assembly and World Council will make their final, binding votes on Regulation 11.5, which determines which equipment and formats are locked in or replaced for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games, at the World Sailing Annual Conference in Qingdao, China, on the 21 November 2026.
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