Fit For The Future: IOC President creates four new working groups

05 September 2025 – Four new working groups that will look at the Youth Olympic Games, the Olympic programme, protecting the female category, and commercial partnerships and marketing, have been created by International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Kirsty Coventry. These groups are part of the “Fit For The Future” process, and follow the consultation with the IOC members in June and consultations with the IOC’s honorary and honour members over the summer. The groups will start work as soon as possible.

“As part of our ‘Fit For The Future’ process, I had announced that we would immediately begin the process of forming key working groups. The groups announced today are the start of that process. They will allow us to meet deadlines, and bring important technical expertise to these complex and important discussions, while realigning where we feel that it is necessary to strengthen our Movement,” said President Coventry.

She continued: “The ‘Fit For The Future’ consultations with stakeholders are ongoing, and these groups will receive constant feedback to make sure that everybody is fully aligned and that all recommendations are fully integrated.”

In order to review the selection process of Olympic hosts, the Future Host Commission for the Games of the Olympiad will now focus solely on this topic. Therefore, the IOC President has created a new working group to focus on the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) only.

• The YOG Working Group will look at the potential and relevance of the YOG. It will also take over the process for selecting the host for the 2030 YOG. This will allow for all recommendations to be fully integrated into the selection process. This working group will be chaired by IOC member Danka Hrbeková.
• The Olympic Programme Working Group will focus on the sports programme. It will look to find a balance between the size of the Games, the relevance of the sports and disciplines, the integration of new sports and disciplines, and, potentially, identifying ways for sports to be added to or removed from the programme through a clear and transparent process. It will also consider the suggestion that traditional summer or winter sports could cross over, the timing of the Games, and the sports calendar. It will be chaired by IOC member Karl Stoss.
• The Protection of the Female Category Working Group will look at how we can best protect the female category. The group will consist of experts and IFs. The names of the members of the working group will remain confidential for now to protect the integrity of the group and their work.
• The Commercial Partnerships and Marketing Working Group will look at the IOC’s existing programmes, platforms and systems, how it engages with partners, and how it can evolve and ensure that it is fit for today’s competitive market. The Working Group will study other organisations’ business models and how they are using new platforms, and what potential the IOC might have to adapt. It will also explore how the capabilities of Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) and Olympic Channel Services (OCS) can be further leveraged to create future revenue generation. It will be chaired by IOC member Luis Alberto Moreno.

The working groups will also be able to invite relevant experts to join their discussions as they move through this process.

The full list of members of the working groups can be found below:

Youth Olympic Games Working Group

Chair:

HRBEKOVÁ Danka

Members:

DANIELL Marcus
DE VOS Ingmar
FORTES Filomena
FÜRJES Balázs
KAYANGE Humphrey
OTA Yuki
SMITH Tricia

Olympic Programme Working Group

Chair:

STOSS Karl

Members:

COJUANGCO JAWORSKI Mikaela
COE Sebastian
DE VOS Ingmar
ESTANGUET Tony
FELIX Allyson
HOEVERTSZ Nicole
KIM Jae Youl
NSEKERA Lydia
RAPILLA Auvita

Commercial Partnerships and Marketing Working Group

Chair:

MORENO Luis Alberto

Members:

ARAD Yael
BERHANE Dagmawit Girmay
CARRIÓN Richard L.
ELIASCH Johan
KEJVAL Jiri
MRONZ Michael
SAMARANCH Juan Antonio
SYKES Gene
TERHO Emma
THIAM Tidjane