Intrigue as the chess game to be next IOC president gets underway

The speculation is over. It’s now official who are the candidates to replace Thomas Bach as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) president.

Seven candidates will compete in the election for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the 143rd IOC Session to be held from March 18-21, 2025 in Greece.

Bach will pass the baton with the IOC in a financially strong position.

All IOC presidents to date have been men, with eight of the nine from Europe and one from the United States.

The president is elected to an eight-year first term with the possibility of a second term of four years if re-elected.

World Athletics president Lord Sebastian Coe has been named as one of seven confirmed candidates to succeed Bach as the IOC president.

The candidates (in alphabetical order):

Prince Feisal al Hussein, aged 63, Jordan – he is president of the Jordan Olympic Committee and founded Generations for Peace, which promotes unity in high-conflict areas.

Lord Sebastian Coe, 67, Great Britain – Olympic champion middle-distance runner, who chaired the organising committee of the London 2012 Olympics, and headed the British Olympic Association.

Kirsty Coventry, 41, Zimbabwe – an Olympian who competed at five Games. She is Minister of Sport in Zimbabwe. She was an athlete representative on the IOC.

Johan Eliasch, 62, Sweden – President of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation and chairman of sports goods company head.

David Lappartient, 51, France – President of cycling’s governing body Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and president of the French Olympic Committee. He is chair of the IOC’s Esports group.

Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, 64, Spain – One of four current IOC vice presidents. Headed coordination commission for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. His late father was in charge of the IOC for 31 years until 2010.

Morinari Watanabe, 65, Japan – President of the International Gymnastics Federation since 2017. He was on the executive board of the organising committee for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

They all officially announced their candidacies by the deadline of midnight on September 15, 2024.

The candidates will present their programmes, on camera, to the full IOC membership in January 2025.

The Olympic Movement is currently facing significant challenges that aren’t only related to the field of play. The leader of the Olympic Committee and thus by extension the Olympic Movement sets the tone for not just the present but for years to come. The global environment now isn’t what it was 12 years ago when Bach was first elected. Let’s be clear, the election of the IOC president is not done by the 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs). It’s done by the 111 IOC members.

The IOC has never had a woman president or for that matter a leader from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America or Oceania. Nine have been from Europe and one from the USA. Two prominent and deserving women missing from the list are.

Aruba’s Nicole Hoevertsz, an IOC Member since 2006 and Nawal El Moutawakel, first elected IOC Member in 1998. She made history in 1984 as the first Moroccan, African and Muslim woman to win an Olympic gold medal.

During the upcoming six months, there will be many discussions taking place as to who will win the vote. Most of it will be speculation as what is in the minds of the IOC members will be kept closely guarded.

But for now, what is certain is the race is on. And it’s going to be a battle royale of a chess game.

Next week, the Things That Matter column will speculate about some of the key issues that will shape the outcome of the race to be the next IOC president.

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