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≡ THE BIG PICTURE ≡
The race to replace Germany’s Thomas Bach as the President of the International Olympic Committee is on, with seven candidates – six men and one woman – declaring their interest by Sunday’s deadline:
● Prince Feisal Al Hussein (JOR): 60, elected to the IOC in 2010, the younger brother of King Abdullah II. Heavily involved in development of peace-through-sport programs, he is a retired Lt. General of the Jordanian Armed Forces.
● Sebastian Coe (GBR): 67, four-time Olympic medalist in track & field (2-2-0) in 1980-84. Elected to the IOC in 2020, tied to his position as the President of World Athletics. Was the Chair of the highly-successful London 2012 Olympic organizing committee
● Kirsty Coventry (ZIM): 41, the current Minister of Youth, Sports, Arts and Recreation in Zimbabwe, a seven-time Olympic medalist in swimming (2-4-1) in 2004 and 2008. Elected to the IOC in 2013, deeply involved in athlete issues and is Chair of the Brisbane 2032 Coordination Commission.
● Johan Eliasch (GBR): 62, elected to the IOC in 2024, tied to his position as the President of the International Ski & Snowboard Federation. He is a billionaire and Chair of the sports equipment giant Head.
● David Lappartient (FRA): 51, elected to the IOC in 2022, tied to his position as the President of the Union Cycliste Internationale. He is also the President of the National Olympic Committee of France and has been the IOC’s liaison with the e-sports community.
● Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP): 64, elected to the IOC in 2001. The son of Juan Antonio Samaranch, the transformational IOC President from 1980-2001. Long experience in sport, with strong ties in China, he was the head of the IOC’s Coordination Commission for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
● Morinari Watanabe (JPN): 65, elected to the IOC in 2018, tied to his position as the President of the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique.
Age is important, since the IOC’s election rules require retirement at age 70, although a term can be extended once, for four years. Also, for those candidates – four of the seven – whose membership is tied to their International Federations, they will cease being IOC members when their presidencies are over, but could be converted to individual membership by a vote of the members.
Geographically:
● Africa (1): Coventry (ZIM)
● Asia (2): Feisal (JOR), Watanabe (JPN)
● Europe (4): Coe (GBR), Eliasch (GBR), Lappartient (FRA), Samaranch (ESP)
The election will take place in March at the IOC Session in Greece. Candidate presentations will take place in January, and the new President will take over in June of 2025.
Observed: There were several others who were thought to be possible candidates, but they’re not running; these seven are. All are highly successful people, including a Jordanian royal family member, a Zimbabwean minister and a British Lord, and are not to be underestimated.
Coventry is in her early 40s, Lappartient is in his early 50s and everyone else is 60 or older, with Coe the oldest at 67. Because of the IOC’s rules on age, it would appear that Coe, Eliasch, Samaranch and Watanabe would be limited to one term of eight years and would be aged-out – even with an extension by the membership – for a second, four-year term. Of course, the rules could be changed.
The speculation will run rampant on who is favored and who is not and most of it will be wrong. What is true is that Bach has overseen a relative youth movement in the membership; of the 111 IOC members, 37 – a third – were elected in 2020 or later. That includes Coe, Eliasch and Lappartient.
So, this is not the “old boys club” of decades past, in fact it’s likely that many members barely know each other.
The IOC has money and is coming off of a highly successful Olympic Games in Paris and has hosts lined up for its Games in 2026-28-30-32-34, so Bach leaves the organization in excellent shape. But the world is a dangerous place today and the next leader is going to have to show that he or she can deal with it.
None of the candidates are obvious choices on that score, and as Bach has said, the high regard in which the Olympic Games is held means that it will continue to be involved in politics.
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