International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry made her first trip to Utah since taking the IOC's top job, stopping Wednesday at Washington Elementary School in Salt Lake City before touring Olympic venues and meeting young athletes across the valley. The visit doubled as a celebration of Champion Schools 34, a new statewide education program tied to Utah's upcoming turn hosting the Winter Games.
A First Stop At a Salt Lake City Classroom
Coventry arrived at Washington Elementary on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026, according to Deseret News. She joined students for a Champion Schools 34 assembly built like an Olympic-style opening ceremony, complete with a ceremonial lighting, class-made banners and student-led questions for visiting athletes, as reported by ABC4 Utah. Utah bobsled world champion Kaysha Love read to students during the event, and children received books from Olympians and Paralympians who attended.
Coventry told the students she had spent years traveling the world as a swimmer for Zimbabwe, competing across five Olympic Games, per the same Deseret News report. It's a biography that carries plenty of hardware: Coventry won seven Olympic medals during her swimming career, including 200-meter backstroke gold at the 2004 Athens Games and again at the 2008 Beijing Games, according to ABC4 Utah. She was elected the International Olympic Committee's 10th president in 2025, becoming both the first woman and the first African to lead an organization that has existed for more than 130 years.
Champion Schools 34 Rolls Out Statewide
Champion Schools 34 is a statewide education initiative created by Utah 2034 and Ken Garff for Good, and Utah 2034 describes it as a program designed to strengthen literacy, increase school engagement and support long-term academic participation using Olympic and Paralympic values, according to Utah 2034. The inaugural pilot is scheduled to launch this fall at 72 elementary schools across seven Utah school districts, and the organization says it represents the first phase of a broader education strategy still being developed by Utah 2034's Education Committee.
The program builds on the IOC's existing Olympic Values Education Program, which Utah 2034 notes has already been implemented in 138 countries and reached more than 60 million young people worldwide. Seven elementary schools are set to host their own Opening Ceremonies-style assemblies throughout September, complete with torch relays and classroom parades, and the program's digital platform will give teachers lesson plans, book recommendations, athlete-led motivational videos and reading-minute tracking tied to prizes.
Nibley Elementary, one of the 72 participating schools, held its own launch assembly featuring Olympic and Paralympic athletes and an Olympic torch in front of hundreds of students, according to The Herald Journal. Students there later formed the five Olympic rings on the school field. The program is designed to introduce students to Olympic and Paralympic movement values as Utah prepares to host the Winter Games again in 2034, as noted by Cache Valley Daily, which points out Salt Lake City previously hosted the Games in 2002 before its 2034 selection in 2024.
Meetings With Utah Leaders and a Stop on the Ice
Beyond the school visit, Coventry met privately with Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and other state and local leaders, according to the Deseret News report. Utah First Lady Abby Cox, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, Utah 2034 President and Executive Chair Fraser Bullock, and Utah 2034 CEO and Vice Chair Brad Wilson all took part in the day's events, per ABC4 Utah.
Coventry also toured Utah Olympic Park near Park City and mingled with Utah 2034 officials, the Deseret News report states. She then spent part of the afternoon on the ice with the Utah Lady Grizzlies, the state's only all-girls hockey organization, meeting with players aged 14 to 16 practicing at the Salt Lake City Sports Complex. The 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games organizing committee used the visit to announce a $5,000 donation to the Lady Grizzlies' teams.
The stops reflect how the organizing committee is engaging communities across Utah as the Winter Games prepare to return to Salt Lake City, per ABC4 Utah's reporting. With Champion Schools 34 just beginning its statewide rollout and Coventry's first Utah visit now behind her, the run-up to 2034 is shifting from planning documents into classrooms, rinks and stadiums across the state.
