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≡ IOC PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ≡
The one and only opportunity for the seven candidates running for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee to make a formal presentation prior to the vote at the 144th IOC Session in March comes on Thursday (30th) in Lausanne.
It’s a very private event, with the presentations made only to the IOC members, with no media present and no broadcast of the event.
There will be a post-presentation meet-up for a maximum of 10 minutes with news media on-site, which will be live-streamed on the IOC’s YouTube channel here, beginning at 11:35 a.m. Central European Time (5:35 a.m. Eastern).
The order of presentation was decided by random draw and will be:
● Prince Feisal Al Hussein (JOR)
● David Lappartient (FRA)
● Johan Eliasch (GBR)
● Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP)
● Kirsty Coventry (ZIM)
● Sebastian Coe (GBR)
● Morinari Watanabe (JPN)
The IOC also issued two pages of detailed regulations for the presentations themselves:
● “The presentation by the candidates must reflect the content of their respective Candidature Document published on the IOC website.”
● “Each candidate will have 15 minutes to give their presentation and 30 additional seconds at the end of a 15-minute countdown. At the end of their time slot, the microphone will be switched off automatically.”
● “There will be no Q&A sessions. There will be a short comfort break between each
presentation.”
● “No electronic devices will be allowed in the meeting room; such devices will be collected at the entrance to the meeting room.”
● “Each candidate will wait in a room reserved for each of them outside the meeting room while the other candidates deliver their presentations. “
● “The candidate may use the support of a PowerPoint presentation, by using the IOC template.”
● “The PowerPoint presentations will not be given to the interpreters in advance. A relay screen will be available for the candidate should a PowerPoint presentation be used. Such presentation shall not include any videos, sound, photos or other images than the ones included in the IOC PowerPoint presentation template.”
Pretty sterile, all in an attempt to try and “level” the playing field – at least as to technical skills – between the candidates.
And this is the only presentation that will be made to the IOC membership, The regulations are clear that “The candidates will not give any presentations during the 144th IOC Session.”
The election will be on 20 March 2025 at the 144th IOC Session, to be held in Costa Navarino, Greece.
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What do the candidates say in their campaign statements? The Sports Examiner has reviewed all seven in depth and in two ways:
Candidate-by-candidate reviews:
● Al Hussein and Coe
● Coventry, Eliasch and Lappartient
● Samaranch and Watanabe
Reviewing promises and priorities:
● Part I
● Part II
This is the first open election for the IOC Presidency since 2013, and four of the seven candidates are International Federation Presidents: Coe (athletics), Eliasch (ski & snowboard), Lappartient (cycling) and Watanabe (gymnastics). Unfortunately, only one of the nine IOC Presidents in history was a federation head and he – J. Sigfried Edstrom (SWE), the IAAF chief – took over during World War II after the 1942 death of Count Henri de Baillet-Latour (BEL). Edstrom served until 1952.
Samaranch is the son of the transformational Juan Antonio Samaranch, president from 1980-2001 and Coe and Coventry were stand-out athletes and Olympic champs in athletics and swimming, respectively.
The conventional wisdom is that Coe – who has asked for a four-year first term that will require a separate vote – is one of the favorites, along with Coventry, Lappartient and Samaranch. But the key question for March is not about favorites but about trust.
In a world spinning out of control on national, political and technical fronts, who will the members trust to keep the Olympic Movement sailing steadily ahead?
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