Coe, multi-millionaire Eliasch among seven candidates for IOC presidency
World athletics chief
Sebastian Coe, multi-millionaire and Olympic newcomer Johan Eliasch, and
Zimbabwe's Sports Minister Kirsty Coventry are among seven candidates for next
year's International Olympic Committee presidency election, the IOC said on
Monday.
IOC Vice President Juan
Antonio Samaranch, son of the late former IOC president, international cycling
chief David Lappartient, Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan, and international
gymnastics federation head Morinari Watanabe are also in the running to succeed
current president Thomas Bach.
The 70-year-old German is
stepping down after 12 years at the helm next year. The election will be held
at the IOC session in ancient Olympia, Greece, in March 2025.
The candidates will all
present their programs, behind closed doors, to the full IOC membership in
January 2025.
The IOC, with 111 members
currently, is in charge of the Olympic Games and the multi-billion-dollar
industry linked to the world's biggest multi-sports event.
Bach's departure comes
with the organization being financially robust, having secured $7.3 billion for
2025-28 and $6.2 billion already in deals for 2029-2032.
The president is elected
to an eight-year first term with the possibility of a second term of four years
if re-elected.
Coe, 67, only joined the
IOC in 2020 after a rocky relationship between World Athletics and the IOC over
Coe's ban of Russian track and field athletes almost a decade ago following the
country's doping scandal.
A former Olympic champion
with a wealth of experience in the sports world, Coe was previously head of the
London 2012 Games and the British Olympic Association. He is also a former
Conservative Member of Parliament.
Coventry, 41, is the only
woman running for president, and the former Olympic swimming champion, Zimbabwe's
most decorated Olympian, could become the first female president and the first
from Africa.
All IOC presidents have
been men, with eight of the nine from Europe and one from the United States.
The 62-year-old Eliasch,
head of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), only joined the
IOC in July, with the Swedish-born British businessman's candidacy a surprise
for some.
Prince Feisal, 60, is a
member of the IOC executive board, having joined the organization in 2010,
while Spaniard Samaranch, with considerable IOC experience in his six years as
vice president, headed the coordination commission for the Beijing 2022 Winter
Olympics.
"The IOC and Olympic
movement have made enormous strides over the past decade under the leadership
of Mr Bach," said Samaranch in a statement.
"The IOC now needs a
new leader with deep experience of the Olympic movement who can help steer it
through this period of upheaval."
UCI chief Lappartient has
been a rapidly rising figure within the sports world after joining the IOC in
2022.
The Frenchman is also in
charge of e-sports within the IOC, having helped seal a 12-year deal with Saudi
Arabia for the Olympic e-sports Games earlier this year.
Japan's Watanabe, 65, has
headed the Gymnastics Federation (FIG) since 2016, having been re-elected twice,
and is his country's first-ever candidate for the IOC presidency.
Under current rules,
members must step down when they reach 70, the IOC's age limit, unless they are
given a four-year extension.
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