The Next IOC President: Intrigue In Lausanne
By Ed Hula
Intrigue returns to the IOC. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach steps down in June as he reaches the 12-year term limit. Seven IOC members are running to succeed him. But there is not yet an obvious favorite in the race to be decided in late March.
Prince Feisal Al Hussein, David Lappartient, Johan Eliasch, Juan Antonio Samaranch, Kirsty Coventry, Sebastian Coe and Morinari Watanabe are the names to follow . It’s the biggest field of contenders since the IOC began in 1894. Their names are listed in the protocol order, which was determined in a random draw late last year.
In just a few days they will appear in Lausanne to make the only pitch to their colleagues allowed ahead of the March vote in Greece. Under the hyper-regulated rules of the IOC, the 15-minute presentations will be held in camera. Telephones and other recording devices will be checked at the door. No Q&A is allowed. Presentations are limited to power point only, meaning no video. Candidates will each have a room near the meeting and will stay quarantined until their time to speak. At the end, the seven will make 10-minute appearances for the select group of media covering the event.
The rules are meant to present a level playing field: no public promotion, no debating or comparisons allowed. Endorsements also are banned.
Travel to meet with individual IOC members is discouraged and must be cleared with the IOC ethics officer 10 days ahead of travel. Virtual contact is encouraged. Third-party promotion is banned and social networking campaigns are also forbidden.
Feeding the intrigue of this election are some serious issues confronting the next IOC president:
Recognizing an ostracized Russia
challenges to anti-doping
integrity of women sports
light-speed technology changes
the growth of esports
declines for mainstay Olympic sports
and a shifting landscape for worldwide sponsors.
Despite those challenges and more, this election has drawn a well-spoken and accomplished field of contenders. The manifestos they submitted to the IOC are packed with ideas that speak to the future of the Olympics. Ranging from five to 42 pages in length, all have a polished look that should play well in Lausanne. There’s a link to the manifestos of each candidate, in the order of appearance in Lausanne Jan. 30.
Prince Feisal Al Hussein is brother of the king of Jordan and would be the first IOC president from Asia. He is 62 and can serve until 2037 with an age extension. His 20-page manifesto is titled “Fulfilling Sport’s Global Potential”. He calls for more engagement of IOC members in decision-making, a common point in all seven proposals from the candidates.Feisal would like to plan for the IOC future with an Olympic Agenda 2036 program modeled after Bach’s Olympic Agenda 2020. Greater flexibility in staging the Olympics and a rethink of the TOP sponsorship program would be part of the new agenda, he says. He also would push the IOC retirement age to 75.
The prince sees the role of the IOC as a force for peace, drawing on the experience of his NGO Generations for Peace. On the IOC he is a champion of gender equity.
“The current rise in interest in women’s sport was preceded by decades of work in the Olympic Movement to create a space where female athletes could excel, and I fully intend to build on this and ensure the IOC acts as a beacon for a global move towards gender equality over the next decade,” he writes in the manifesto.
Click here for the manifesto. https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Documents/International-Olympic-Committee/president-election/manifesto/AL-HUSSEIN-FEISAL-HRH-manifesto-EN.pdf
David Lappartient, 52, is part of the new generation of sports leaders on the IOC. He is president of the French national Olympic committee as well as international cycling federation UCI.
Soon after his arrival at the IOC in 2022, the backbencher was handed the IOC portfolio regarding Esports. Since then he has worked to put together an Olympic Esport event that is supposed to debut this year in Saudi Arabia, which would host future editions as well. He calls this new addition to the calendar “a watershed moment” for the IOC. As president of the French NOC, he was able to share in the glow of a successful Paris Olympics and raise his profile among the IOC members.
Lappartient’s 24-page manifesto covers the range of issues ahead for the IOC. He is calling for the formation of an Olympic Agenda 2036 program that he says would prepare the organization to deal with the force of changes that he says are coming.
Lappartient is the only one to recognize the challenge facing the Olympics from what he calls a rise against globalization. He says he is the right person to address this issue.
“Major international sporting events and international organisations such as the IOC are associated with globalisation. As a result, local movements against the organisation of major events can join forces, as with the NOlympics Anywhere network. Not content with opposing the Olympic Games in their respective cities, they strive to ban the IOC outright. Fortunately, these groups have no meaningful support, but that does not mean that we should not take them into account in our considerations and risk assessments. The road will get bumpy in the next few years, so, as you can imagine, we need to rethink our overall approach. Having an IOC President and leaders used to exercising power in a tense climate will be essential,” he says in the manifesto.
As an individual member of the IOC and his youth, Lappartient can serve a full 12 years. His retirement year is 2043.
Click here for the manifesto. https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Documents/International-Olympic-Committee/president-election/manifesto/LAPPARTIENT-DAVID-manifesto-EN.pdf
Swedish-born U.K. businessman Johan Eliasch is president of international ski federation FIS and would be the first IOC president from a winter federation. Elected to the IOC by virtue of his FIS leadership, Eliasch is a true backbencher who joined the IOC just seven months ago. Eliasch has a long career in business and with philanthropic organizations. He was CEO of sports gear manufacturer Head. In his 24-page manifesto he asserts that his business background makes him fit to be an IOC president.
“We need highly experienced leadership, gained over decades at the sharp end of sports administration, business, politics and philanthropic endeavours. Our next president must have steered a large organisation and managed change within it; faced a blizzard of decisions to make every day; and not only made decisions but overseen their delivery too,” he writes. He adds that he may be a novice at the IOC but he is deeply experienced in world sport. The Eliasch manifesto is a dazzling array of graphic arts that will be part of the powerpoint he’ll ,ale on June 30, his first elocution to the IOC he joined just seven months ago.
Eliasch, 63, would need a change in membership status if he won. He holds the seat because of his FIS presidency which he would have to relinquish if elected to IOC president. The IOC Session would need to re-nominate him as an individual member, as well as grant him a four year extension of his term when he turns 70. The membership gymnastics are all pro forma, the same circumstances facing Coe and Watanabe. Eliasch could serve until 2036.
Click here for the manifesto. https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Documents/International-Olympic-Committee/president-election/manifesto/ELIASCH-JOHAN-manifesto-EN.pdf
The senior candidate — Juan Antonio Samaranch — has been a member for 24 years. That experience, he says, is one reason he should be considered for the presidency held by his late father from 1980 to 2001. Samaranch Sr is not mentioned in the 42- page manifesto, which is replete with ideas and three dozen action proposals. To generate new revenue, for example, Samaranch believes the facilities of Olympic Broadcasting Services are an IOC asset that can be profitably employed by sport events around the world.
Samaranch begins his manifesto saying he welcomes more engagement with members and the IOC leadership.
“From our conversations, it is clear that Members need a stronger voice in shaping our future—a sentiment I fully support. The IOC’s greatest strength lies not in the narrow perspectives of a select few but in the collective wisdom of its Members. To fulfill our mission, Members must be fully empowered to express their opinions and insights, and we must ensure we have the resources and tools needed to promote and uphold the values of Olympism.
“We must also revisit the age limit to ensure we are not arbitrarily losing the benefits of experience and knowledge,” he said, without specifying a new limit.
Click here for the manifesto. https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Documents/International-Olympic-Committee/president-election/manifesto/SAMARANCH-JUAN-ANTONIO-manifesto-EN.pdf
Kirsty Coventry has been on a steady rise since becoming a member in 2013, a result of her election to the IOC Athletes Commission. She was chair of the commission for the last half of her term that included four years as a member of the Executive Board. Intent on keeping her on the IOC, Bach made sure she was approved for an individual membership that allows her to serve until age 70, some 23 years to go. Coventry is an Olympic champion swimmer and is the minister for sport in Zimbabwe.
Her IOC portfolio includes chair of the coordination commissions for the 2032 Games in Brisbane and the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar. She has a seat on the exclusive Finance Commission. Believed by many to be a favorite of the IOC president, Bach has stayed silent, in compliance with the campaign rules. Coventry might appreciate the limits on travel for candidates. She’s now caring for a newborn since last month as well as another youngster. She obviously is headed to Lausanne this month and Greece in March.
Coventry would be the first woman to become IOC president after nine men preceding. But she is not the first to try. That distinction goes to Anita Defrantz of the U.S who ran in a field with four men in the2001 election won by Jacques Rogge. She was eliminated in the first round with nine votes. It should be noted that in 2001 there were 12 women on the IOC. In 2025 there are 48, nearly quadruple. The possibilty of becoming the first woman as IOC chief is unmentioned in Coventry’s manifesto.
Coventry acknowledges her status as an Olympian will make athletes her top priority if she were IOC president. She touches on all the main points ahead such as doping, new revenue, attracting youth and technological advances without proposing sweeping changes. But Coventry does say the IOC must communicate better.
“Improved internal communications between us will lead to better external communications where traditional media and journalists will have more access to sharing our ideas and triumphs. But this also means we may face greater criticism. We should be okay with this. My years of facing public scrutiny in the pool, in parliament and as chairperson of my various IOC portfolios, has built a confidence and strength within me to take full responsibility for all our decisions,” Coventry writes.
She can serve the full term of 12 years as IOC president.
m/media/Documents/International-Olympic-Committee/president-election/manifesto/COV
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe has the opportunity to complete an Olympic hat trick. From Olympic champion to leading the 2012 Olympics to two terms as president of World Athletics, Coe has not been shy about his interest in the top job at the IOC. He says that he’s been training for it his entire career. In his 22-page manifesto Coe calls the Olympics “the greatest stage on Earth”.
He covers the range of IOC concerns such as athlete welfare, embracing technology, and seeking new revenues. As World Athletics chief, he has fought to maintain the integrity of women’s sport and says he’ll do the same at the IOC.
Coe pledges to members that they will be more involved in IOC decisions.
“I will ensure decision-making in the Movement clearly sits with the members, ensuring greater accountability, transparency and efficiency. Members will lead on strategic initiatives with clear mandates and timelines, strengthening their ability to drive the Movement forward”.
The decision by World Athletics last year to award prize money to athletes at the Paris Olympics did not play well among some IOC members, Bach in particular. Coe says he has no regrets.
Click here for the manifesto. https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Documents/International-Olympic-Committee/president-election/manifesto/COE-manifesto-EN.pdf
Morinari Watanabe of Japan is calling for radical changes for the Olympics.
The president of the International Gymnastics Federation, Watanabe is proposing Olympic Games on five continents to spread the glory worldwide simultaneously. Just as revolutionary is his proposal to turn Olympic decision-making over to a bicameral governing body, modeled after the U.S. Congress. The lower house would consist of the international federation leaders and representatives from the world’s NOCs. The upper house, which he calls the Senate, would consist of the elected members of the IOC.
Then there’s a new take on electing the IOC president. Watanabe would keep the 12-year limit on the post, but would divide the term into four-year blocks. Currently the IOC president is elected for an eight-year term that can be followed by a final four years if approved at an IOC Session.
“As society changes rapidly, eight years would slow down the process. By giving many members the chance to become IOC President, the pace of change will be accelerated,” Watanabe writes in his manifesto. At five pages, it is the shortest of the candidates and refreshing in its minimalism amid the many words filling the pages of other candidates.
Watanabe led the IOC task force that organized the boxing events at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics in place of the suspended International Boxing Association.
Click here for the manifesto. https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Documents/International-Olympic-Committee/president-election/manifesto/WATANABE-MORINARI-manifesto-EN.pdf
Dynamics of the Contest
The size of the field of candidates and the lack of an obvious front-runner makes it difficult to predict how the vote will end when the IOC votes in Greece March 19 -21.
An absolute majority of the 110 members eligible to vote is required. IOC rules do not permit members to vote for candidates from their home country. In this case 14 members from France, Japan, Jordan, Spain, the U.K. and Zimbabwe will not vote in the first round. The IOC president also does not vote, which puts the number of voting members at 95. That means 48 votes are needed for an absolute majority on the first ballot. The winning vote number could be smaller, given the impossibility of figuring out how many IOC members are unable to attend due to illness or other reasons.
If history is an indicator, two ballots should be enough for this race. In the 2013 election, a six-candidate contest was decided on the second ballot with Bach winning 49 votes. His closest rival, Richard Carrion of Puerto Rico, received 29 votes.
The 2001 election was sealed on the second ballot with 59 votes for Jacques Rogge against four rivals.
In conversations with Olympic insiders, three names stand out: Coe, Coventry and Lappartient. But Samaranch could also be a factor, depending on how the first round of voting, and perhaps a second, plays out.
It should be noted that nearly every IOC president since 1894 has been a member of the executive board. That precedent is a plus for three candidates — Coventry, Feisal and Samaranch. The real race may be among these IOC veterans.
Only one IOC president has come from the presidency of an international sport federation. Johannes Sigfrid Edström of Sweden was president of the International Amateur Athletics Federation and IOC vice president when the third IOC president Henri Baillet Latour died in 1942. Edström took over the the post which he held until 1952 The IAAF is now World Athletics, headed by Coe. Eliasch of FIS and Watanabe from FIG are the two other federation leaders in the race.
Spreading 90 or so votes among a field of seven candidates could result in a surprise elimination in the first round. A second round can do the same if there is no winner. A third round should produce a winner – maybe a surprise, too.
Then there is the possibility that girl power may be a driver in this election. Coventry is seeking to become the first woman elected IOC president, although she’s not the first who’s tried: Anita DeFrantz of the United States ran in 2001 and was eliminated in the first round, collecting nine votes out of the 98 cast among five candidates. When that vote was taken, women on the IOC numbered 13. In 2025, the roster of female members has nearly quadrupled to 48. If they vote as a bloc in 2025, the women of the IOC could break the glass ceiling at Olympic House in Lausanne. Intrigue returns to the Olympic City.