GENEVA – Seven candidates are competing for one of the biggest and best jobs in world sports that traditionally becomes available only every 12 years.
The International Olympic Committee announced on Monday which of its members in a most exclusive and discreet club have entered the race to be its next president. The election by secret ballot is in March.
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The winner will replace Thomas Bach, a German lawyer who steps down in June on reaching the maximum 12 years in office.
The 10th IOC president could be its first female leader, or its first from Africa or Asia. Or even its first from Britain.
They will take over a financially stable organization that demands deft skills in the challenging arenas of sports and real-world politics.
Who are the candidates?
Prince Feisal al Hussein, an IOC member since 2010, on its executive board since 2019. Founder of the Generations for Peace sports charity. His older brother is King Abdullah II of Jordan.
Sebastian Coe, IOC member since 2020. President of World Athletics since 2015. Olympic champion in men’s 1,500 meters in 1980 and 1984. Elected lawmaker in British parliament from 1992-97. Led the 2012 London Olympics organizing committee.
Kirsty Coventry, IOC member since 2013, on executive board for a second time since 2023. Olympic champion in women’s 200 meters backstroke in 2004 and 2008. Appointed sports minister in Zimbabwe government since 2018. Chairs IOC panel overseeing the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
Johan Eliasch, IOC member since August. President of International Ski and Snowboard Federation since 2021. Owner of Head sports equipment brand, CEO until 2021. Swedish-British citizen.
David Lappartient, IOC member since 2022. President of International Cycling Union since 2017. President of France's Olympic committee and leader of French Alps bid that will host 2030 Winter Games. Chair of IOC esports panel that steered the Esports Olympics Games to Saudi Arabia.
Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., IOC member since 2001, vice president since 2022, and member of the executive board from 2012-20. Founder of a Spain-based investment bank. Created Samaranch Foundation to promote the Olympics in China in honor of his father who was IOC president from 1980-2001.
Morinari Watanabe, IOC member since 2018. Japanese president of the International Gymnastics Federation since 2017.
When is the election and who votes?
The IOC election meeting is on March 18-21 at a resort hotel in Greece, near the site of Ancient Olympia.
Candidates and their compatriots cannot vote leaving about 95 eligible to take part in March. Among them, members of European and Asian royal families, including the Emir of Qatar; diplomats and lawmakers, including a former president of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović; businesspeople, including Nita Ambani, whose husband is India’s richest man; leaders of sports bodies; current and former Olympic athletes.
What is the IOC president’s job?
It's an executive role running a not-for-profit organization that employs hundreds of staff at a modern lakeside headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The IOC earns several billion dollars in revenue every four years from selling broadcasting and sponsor rights for the Summer Games and Winter Games.
Most of the money is distributed to the Olympic family: Organizers of upcoming Games including youth editions, governing bodies of Olympic sports, more than 200 national Olympic bodies, scholarships for potential Olympic athletes and special projects.
The job ideally calls for a deep knowledge of managing sports, understanding athletes’ needs and political skills.
What power does the IOC president have?
Within the Olympic family, the president can — and Bach did — use their influence and patronage: To decide who hosts future Olympic Games, who becomes an IOC member, who gets key committee positions.
Out in the wider world, the IOC is historically neutral in politics. It can — and Bach did — take a role in international diplomacy and with the United Nations, where it has formal observer status. The 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games briefly brought host South Korea and North Korea closer together.
The IOC and its president go on decade-long journeys with governments and mayors of countries and cities that bid for, then organize and host Olympic Games. Some are too-big-to-fail personal projects for heads of states.
Bach’s first Olympics as president was Vladimir Putin’s Winter Games in 2014 in Sochi, Russia. China’s Xi Jinping paid close attention to Beijing hosting the 2022 Winter Games in a COVID-19 lockdown.
Bach’s final lap ended in celebratory style in Paris this summer, often beside French President Emmanuel Macron.
A low point was a June 2017 visit to the White House when Los Angeles was bidding in what became a double hosting award: 2024 to Paris and 2028 to L.A. No official photos or readouts were released of the Olympic delegation’s meeting with then-President Donald Trump. It did not go well.
The next IOC president’s first Summer Games will be in 2028 in Los Angeles.
How long can IOC presidents stay in the job?
A maximum of 12 years, with a first term of eight years and the chance for one re-election for a further four.
However, the IOC has an age limit of 70 and complex rules around membership status. It means some of the seven candidates could have to seek a special exemption while in office to complete a full eight-year mandate.
How much does the IOC pay its president?
The IOC describes Bach as a volunteer, who should not financially benefit from his position though also "should not have to finance activities related to his function from his personal savings.” The solution since 2013 has been paying “a single annual fixed amount linked to inflation.”
That amounted to 275,000 euros ($306,000) in 2023, according to the most recent IOC annual report.
What are the challenges and big decisions ahead?
Picking a host for the 2036 Summer Games, with India and Qatar as strong contenders.
Renewing the United States broadcast deal that has typically underwritten Olympic finances. Bach moved quickly in 2014 to re-up NBC’s deal through 2032. The next deal starts with the 2034 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
Both decisions factor into wider questions in regard to drafting the global sports calendar. July-August has been the optimal Summer Games slot since 2004. But a 2036 Doha Olympics could not be held in those months, and where could comfortably after another decade of climate change?
When and how can Russia be reintegrated fully into international sports with no end to its invasion of Ukraine in sight? Coe’s world track and field body currently excludes Russian athletes entirely.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games