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ONE of the most prestigious and influential posts in sport will soon change hands. On March 18, the International Olympic Committee, the body that controls the Olympic Games, will gather in Greece — the event’s spiritual home — to elect a new president.
The chosen man or woman will take over from Thomas Bach, a German lawyer and former Olympic fencer, who has been president since 2013. The successful candidate will be the 10th president in the IOC’s 130-year existence, and the new leader’s term of office will formally begin on June 24.
With such an attractive, if demanding, prize at stake, several IOC members have thrown their hats into the ring. Seven candidates have entered the contest — one more than when Bach was elected in Buenos Aires. The number of IOC members whose votes they will compete to attract stands currently at 111.
Every IOC president, to date, has been male, and all but one has been from Europe, a continent that accounts for four of the current pretenders. Much interest is bound to focus, accordingly, on the lone woman in the race:
Kirsty Coventry, the 41-year-old Zimbabwean sports minister and multi-Olympic medal-winning swimmer.
Long seen as an old boys’ club, the IOC only elected its first women members in 1981, but it has since been transformed: 43 per cent of current IOC members are women. A Coventry victory would send a message that sport can no longer be a domain where men call most of the shots.
The lone African is, however, much the youngest candidate and may find it hard to convince some members that she has the requisite experience for such a complex and diplomatically challenging role. She is, nevertheless, viewed by some as Bach’s preferred candidate. Next youngest is 51-year-old David Lappartient of France. One of four international sports federation heads in the race, the president of UCI, the world cycling body, has acquired a reputation as a man who gets things done, and his star has risen rapidly.
Sports federation heads in the race, the president of UCI, the world cycling body, has acquired a reputation as a man who gets things done, and his star has risen rapidly.
Brought in last year to steer the French National Olympic and Sports Committee through final preparations for Paris 2024, Lappartient has benefited from the success of those Games in his bid to run the IOC. He has also played a leading part in the IOC’s tentative embrace of esports. Impressively fast out of the blocks in what has the makings of a tight race has been Spain’s Juan Antonio Samaranch. He is the son, and namesake, of the IOC president who dominated the Olympic world in the 1980s and 1990s.
The candidate with the highest public profile is Britain’s Sebastian Coe, also the oldest runner at 68. Head of World Athletics, one of the key Olympic sports, Coe twice won the men’s 1,500m, an iconic event. He also spearheaded the project that culminated with London 2012, one of the most joy-filled and successful Olympics of recent times —Agencies.
Online Reporter
