The Race to Olympia: When is a landslide not a landslide?

Kirsty Coventry's stunning first round victory to be elected IOC President could have turned out very different if just one of those who voted for her had backed one of the other candidates

When is a landslide not a landslide? Kirsty Coventry achieved an overwhelming first-round victory in the IOC Presidential election in Costa Navarino last week. As incumbent President Thomas Bach himself remarked, this was not something he managed when elected (in round 2) in Buenos Aires in 2013.

But it is also true that Coventry secured the precise number of votes necessary for an overall majority. Had she pulled up even one or two votes short, there is no telling if she would have got over the line in subsequent rounds of voting.

I have been left feeling a bit of a nitwit for suggesting repeatedly that while a first-round win was possible, a protracted, knife-edge contest was more likely. I was far from alone in doing this and, to repeat, a first-round vote or two more cast in favour of one of Coventry’s rivals might have given rise to a radically different outcome. Nonetheless, I know of at least two German colleagues who firmly predicted a Coventry win. Congratulations to them for their foresight.