Exclusive: International Weightlifting Federation President has secret plan to reduce female quota on Executive Board

Kirsty Coventry’s election to lead the IOC broke a glass ceiling but IWF President Mohammed Jalood is not happy having to elect so many women to key positions

International Weightlifting Federation President Mohammed Jalood was in Lausanne on Monday taking his place among the great and the good of the Olympic Movement.

He had been invited as a guest to see Kirsty Coventry officially take over as the tenth President of the International Olympic Committee. Thomas Bach symbolically passed the key for Olympic House from one Olympic champion to another in a moment of great historical significance - the first woman to hold the IOC’s highest office.

Jalood stood up and applauded when Bach told the audience that “as the first female and first African to hold this position - and indeed the youngest IOC President since Pierre de Coubertin - Ms Kirsty Coventry reflects the truly global nature and the youthful, forward-looking spirit of our Olympic community.”

The world united in celebration that an organisation once so male dominated that it did even admit female members until 1981 had elected a woman to lead it. Coventry’s election shattered a long-standing gender barrier, signalling progress toward gender equity in global sports leadership.

Coventry, however, will probably not be very impressed when she finds out that far from embracing this new era of gender equality, Jalood’s plans for the IWF involve rolling back hard won progress.

Kirsty Coventry’s election as the first female President of the IOC is an historic moment ©IOC