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≡ IOC PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ≡
(Third of three parts reviewing the Candidate Statements for the IOC Presidency, to be voted on in March 2025 at the 144th IOC Session in Greece.)
The International Olympic Committee published Thursday (19th) the candidate statements of the six men and one woman contending to be the next IOC President, from 2025 to 2033. A look at each and the positions the candidates are taking to appeal to the membership, in alphabetical order.
● Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP)
The son of the transformational IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP), who served from 1980 to 2001, the junior Samaranch is now 65 and has been an IOC member since 2001, longer than any of the other candidates. As such, he is eligible for a four-year extension to age 74, sufficient to complete an eight-year first term.
His statement of 42 pages (about the same as the others, but showing one page at a time), opens by underscoring his experience and a deeply-held perspective:
“The next IOC President must balance honouring tradition and embracing a forward-thinking vision while bringing proven experience in sport and business, both inside and outside the Olympic Movement. The next IOC President will face trials beyond past precedents or what we can foresee today. …
“Effective leadership is based on four principles: Experience, Perspective, Judgement, and Collaboration. Experience provides the foundation for understanding, Perspective frames the opportunities and risks in proper context, and Judgement provides the wisdom, ethics, and critical thinking necessary for good decisions. The basis for all of this is Collaboration. I bring these qualities to this campaign, driven by a lifelong passion for Olympism.”
His statement launches directly into a series of “action points” – 40 in all – around six priorities:
● “The IOC”
● “The Olympic Games”
● “The Athlete”
● “The Olympic Movement”
● “Society and the Olympic Movement”
● “The Business of the Olympic Movement”
Samaranch continues the one theme echoed by all candidates, that the IOC members must become more involved in the Movement and contribute more to decision-making in the future. The members are making their desires known, but Samaranch goes further, stating “We must also revisit the age limit [to 75] to ensure we are not arbitrarily losing the benefits of experience and knowledge.”
Further, he suggests better member support and a stronger promotion of the members to their own national governments, and to “Recognize IOC Members as global ambassadors of sport by advocating to their governments for diplomatic support.”
Samaranch also supports returning the Host City selection to the membership, with “A final list of the suitable candidates should then be submitted to the Session” and notes that the new flexibility in having Games held in multiple cities or regions of a country (or even in multiple countries), can be a negative as well:
“Excessive widespread Games may affect the authenticity and communal spirit of the Olympics, where the Olympic Village serves as the cornerstone of the Games experience and brand.”
Further, “The IOC must strengthen oversight and guide OCOGs in effectively presenting the Olympic brand, including sponsorship, marketing, and client relationship management.”
For athletes, he supports “clear guidelines” for defining the women’s competition category, and give athletes access to video of their own performances for their personal use in promotion on social media. This is a significant expansion of the ability for Olympians to promote themselves at their highest-profile event. This would extend to Olympians of prior Games as well, something which will be widely welcomed by the athlete community.
Samaranch would like to see more engagement with media of all kinds, whether in traditional formats or on social platforms, all of which can help promote the Olympic Movement.
He also suggests more efforts in bringing physical activity on a par with academic subjects, promoting the health benefits of sport as a topic to work with National Olympic Committees in individual countries, a worthwhile goal.
As for the business aspects of the IOC, he – like the other candidates – wants to reexamine how the IOC’s relationships with broadcasters can be deepened for the benefit of both sides. And to help athletes continue to promote themselves and the Games, “Encourage our Media partners to be more flexible with athletes regarding their social media activities during Games-time, while respecting existing Olympic rules and obligations, for mutual benefit.”
He wants new sponsorship levels to be created, “exploring new avenues of promotional exposure at the Games while fully respecting our Clean Venue and Field of Play Guidelines,” and suggests that an “Olympic Donor Programme” could raise $1 billion within five years to support IOC projects such as the Olympic Museum and Refugee Olympic Team.
Similarly, the Olympic Broadcasting Services team – which now services the Games only – could be open to producing other events for outside clients, and the Olympic Channel could be more open to co-productions and new distribution models, reducing the IOC’s underwriting of their full cost.
In many ways, Samaranch’s manifesto is the easiest to grasp as it offers very clear, concrete steps he wants to take to expand member influence and services, significantly expand athlete promotional opportunities and find new revenue sources. His lifetime business experience in finance is a theme which runs behind his ideas, and he underplays his multinational financial and charitable work.
He will be a formidable candidate, especially for IOC members who are and were athletes and have known how difficult it has been to promote themselves at an Olympic Games due to the IOC’s historic rules to protect the exclusivity of their broadcast rights-holders.
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● Morinari Watanabe (JPN)
The just-re-elected head of the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), Watanabe joined the IOC in 2018, linked to his federation. At 65, he can serve, with an extension, to 2033, enough for an eight-year first term.
His statement is notably brief, just five pages, but launches into a series of observations and suggestions for change:
“The Olympic Games have grown so large, and it is now economically and environmentally difficult to host them in most cities. The Olympic Games can be seen as a way of demonstrating the political power of large nations. This has led to a negative perception of the Olympic Games.
“The current model of the Olympic Games began in the 18th century. In the 18th century, there was no television and the main means of transport were ships. Now, in the 21st, technology has developed and we enjoy using various travel and communication technologies, including the internet. In this context, we will study the development of the new model of the Olympic Games.”
In this context, Watanabe starts off with a stunning, radical proposal for the restructuring of the Games:
● “Stage the Olympic Games in five cities from the five continents, in the same period of time.
● “IOC and IFs can choose a city that will provide an environment with less burden on athletes.
● “Significance of the Olympic Games: Bringing the five continents together
● “The Games will be broadcast and streamed 24 hours a day, which will unite the world.
● “10 sports per host city, 50 sports in total.”
A similar change in format would be used for the Winter Games as well, spreading them out worldwide. By doing this, the economic impact of each host city would be drastically reduced, allowing even small cities to be hosts. Wow.
He would follow up with an “Olympian Forum” at the end of each Games year for interaction in one place at one time, without the interference of having competitions.
Watanabe proposes changing the IOC governance to a “House of Representatives” of National Olympic Committee and International Federation presidents and a “Senate” of the current IOC. So proposals would be discussed in the “House” and then voted on in the “Senate.” Another wow.
He sees an expansion of an abuse “Hotline” for athletes and for compliance reporting, yet also expanding the availability of coaching expertise by using artificial intelligence on a worldwide basis.
Watanabe posits that the future is in health care, as populations continue to age, and sees opportunity for the IOC in meeting that need.
It’s a wild, out-of-the-box approach to an IOC Presidential campaign, and while there will be those who simply dismiss Watanabe’s candidature and his ideas, it will not be a surprise if some of them are the basis of future development in the Olympic Movement.
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