The long farewell of IOC President Thomas Bach is underway as he convenes his final session after 12 years at the helm of the world’s leading sport body. His successor to be chosen in three days will come from a field of seven contenders who have all arrived in Costa Navarino, Greece.
The meetings take place at the Romanos Resort, 300 km southwest of Athens on the shoreline of the Ionian Sea. By car, the journey takes three and a half hours. That creates a huge logistical challenge for the hundreds heading to the meeting, most after long airplane journeys from points around the globe. This is the off-season in sunny Greece, and the proof can be found in the weather: breezy conditions with lows of 6c and highs near 16c are forecast.
The salubrious scene at Costa Navarino
Tougher to predict is the outcome of the vote for a new president on Thursday. While the seven candidates have held media interviews over the past few months, the rules governing the race limit any comparisons, endorsements, debate or campaigning except for one-to-one contact with members. The only speeches to the members came January 20 when all gathered in Lausanne for presentations held behind closed doors. None will be heard in Greece ahead of the March 20 vote.
Three candidates are believed to command the most attention from the 100 or so members expected to attend the session. Two of the favorites — Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe and Juan Antonio Samaranch of Spain — are members of the IOC Executive Board, which met Monday on the eve of the session open. Another of the seven contenders, Jordanian Prince Feisal Al Hussein, is also a board member but is considered a long shot.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe may have the longest Olympic resume as a gold medalist and chief of the London 2012 Olympics. That celebrity has made him one of the three favorites. But Coventry is regarded as the favorite of Bach and a protégée of his presidency. She became an IOC member at the same 2013 IOC session Bach took office. Her election would be of great note globally as the first woman to be elected IOC president.
Asked at a press conference Monday, Bach did not directly dispel any links to Coventry’s aspirations. But his terse summation of where he sees the IOC going perhaps speaks volumes. “New times need new leaders,” he said.
It would be notable if Samaranch were elected. He would follow his father, president from 1980 to 2001. Nonetheless, Samaranch has eschewed mentioning his father, instead emphasizing his own 24 years of experience on the IOC. Just 17 of the 109 current IOC members served while the senior Samaranch was president.
Other candidates include cycling federation chief David Lappartient, ski federation president Johan Eliasch and Morinari Watanabe, the president of the gymnastics federation. However, none of the three, along with Coe, have yet to serve on the Executive Board. Of the nine previous presidents, all have had stints on the EB.
The 15-member EB met Monday in Greece in a meeting well short of the normal full day. The topline from the meeting would be the recommendation of the board that would keep boxing remain on the program for Los Angeles in 2028. IOC members will be asked to approve a new federation for the sport. World Boxing was formed two years ago to replace the International Boxing Association, which was officially defrocked in 2024 over issues involving governance, finance and ill will that grew from the suspension of IBA in 2019.
IOC members will journey to Ancient Olympia for the ceremonial open of the 144th session on Tuesday. It promises to be a long day, with two hours of driving each way from Costa Navarino. The ceremony is set for 3pm in the ruins of the ancient Games. It will be the biggest gathering ever of IOC members at the site. It will also be the site of Bach’s final speech opening an IOC session.
He will stay in office until June 23, when his successor will take the oath. Speaking at a press conference after the EB meeting, Bach said the three-month transition will be better for the new chief. When he was elected in 2013 Bach says the transfer was immediate from Jacques Rogge.
“I did not appreciate it,” he sourly noted Monday. He says he would have welcomed time to meet staff and other principals of the IOC. While it is not specified in the Olympic Charter, the new president customarily takes over soon after election. Bach says he has the backing of the EB, and noted that transitions at the top of large businesses or governments are common practice.
Written by Ed Hula
With contributions from Coasta Navarino by Mara Xenou and Brian Pinelli
The race to become the next president of the International Olympic Committee remains a muddled field of seven following a critical test of electability. After presentations just days ago to about 100 of their fellow IOC members and a small press contingent, it seems clear that at least two candidates may be better served by dropping out.
Thomas Bach will leave the IOC presidency in June.
The January 30 meeting at Olympic House in Lausanne was the only chance for the candidates to present their plans to assembled IOC members. In March they will gather again in Greece to vote on a successor to Thomas Bach. The race began in September and has drawn a record number of candidates.
Tightly regulated with rules prohibiting endorsements, deal-making and nearly any kind of promotion, the campaign is the first for an IOC chief in 12 years.
Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan, David Lappartient of France, Johan Eliasch of the U.K., Juan Antonio Samaranch of Spain, Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe, Sebastian Coe of the U.K. and Morinari Watanabe of Japan are the candidates who face the challenge of seeking support from their IOC colleagues given the strict rules of the campaign.
The presentations were held behind closed doors, limited to 15 minutes of PowerPoint delivery. No questions allowed.
About 30 members of the press were accredited for the Lausanne event.
Question time Thursday fell to the 30 members of the media accredited for the meeting. Each candidate had 10 minutes, in the same protocol order drawn last year in the early stage of this path to the presidency.
Given the weight of issues facing the IOC and its next president, 10 minutes with the media and 15 with the IOC members seems stingy. Indeed, by the time Watanabe ended the series of press briefings there were the proverbial more questions than answers. Doubtless IOC members may have felt the same way.
More needed to be said about the IOC split with Russia, the changing world of Olympic telecasting, the need to bring youth to the Olympics, the integrity of women’s sport, making sure all is right with Olympic Games on the horizon – and that’s just the beginning of a long list of challenges facing both the next IOC president and journalists who follow the Olympics to report.
Some conclusions can be drawn from this week’s presentations: at least two of the candidates should drop out.
Johan Eliasch and Morinari Watanabe are both accomplished individuals but unlikely to win more than a handful of votes on March 20.
Johan Iliasch was born in Sweden and lives in the UK.
Eliasch is a successful business person and president of FIS, the international federation for ski and snowboard. In his manifesto and comments to the press he clearly understands the need for the IOC to “get ahead of the curve” of challenges it faces.
With just seven months on the IOC, he is known to only a few members and seems unlikely to pickup many votes. Regardless, Eliasch is earnest about the need for IOC change and has the business acumen to be of great value in the years ahead as a member.
Gymnastics Federation chief and IOC member in Japan Morinari Watanabe.
Watanabe, the head of FIG, the international gymnastics federation, has built his campaign on a radical reinvention of the Olympics that would spread events across five continents at the same time. He would push for a reorganized IOC with upper and lower houses of governance. Neither notion has any support among IOC members. Watanabe could be subject to some embarrassment depending on how many ballots he secures.
These hypothetical departures from the race probably won’t move large blocks of votes. But it will turn the focus on the five remaining contenders: Feisal, Lappartient, Coventry, Samaranch and Coe.
While Eliasch told reporters “this is not a popularity contest”, IOC members are likely to consider the personalities of each of the candidates. Along with their know-how and plans of action, the candidates may also be measured by the gravitas and charisma they will bring to the job.
Given the outsized role of the IOC president as the voice of the organization worldwide, it’s worth considering. Meeting heads of state, opening and closing Olympic Games, charming Olympic sponsors and rights-holding broadcasters as well as connecting with Olympic athletes are all requirements of the 21st Century IOC president.
Prince Feisal of Jordan joined the IOC in 2010.
Feisal has low-key style and may be overlooked for better-known rivals as a result. But his bearing and grooming as a member of the Jordanian Royal family has certainly imbued him with the gravitas needed for the IOC president. He has become an IOC expert on refugees and boosting women’s sport.
David Lappartient at the media briefing.
Lappartient is a fast rising IOC member. He’s president of both the French Olympic Committee and the international cycling federation. In the press briefing he came across as earnest and affable; he was the only candidate to speak in French and English. If he is not successful, Lappartient, 52, could run again when the presidency next reopens without complications over the age 70 retirement rule, something all the candidates say should be open to change.
Juan Antonio Samaranch said the IOC should regard media as an ally not an enemy.
After 25 years on the IOC, Samaranch should have the deepest storehouse of knowledge among his rivals. While he may not be the most charismatic of the bunch, he clearly has developed a sense of gravitas from his work on the IOC and perhaps observing his namesake. He had plenty of time to observe: Samaranch was 21 when his father began his 21 year tenure as IOC president.
Kirsty Coventry won two gold medals in swimming for Zimbabwe.
Coventry came across in the press briefing as someone who will be a strong bridge between the IOC and athletes. In her 12 years on the IOC she has tackled increasing responsibilities that give her a high profile, whether speaking to the U.N. or overseeing preparations for the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane.
Sebastian Coe speaking to the press in Lausanne.
Coe is clearly the member with star power among the field of candidates. Olympic champion, head of the London Olympics, and now president of World Athletics, coat has lived his life in the spotlight. He sounded at ease and confident in his meeting with the media, just the latest of countless press conferences he’s seen in 45 years in sport.
The IOC Session in Lausanne Jan.30.
The seven candidates joined their colleagues for lunch and the conclusion of their one day session Lausanne last week. The only piece of business was to award the 2029 Winter Youth Olympics to the Italian Alps. It was the only choice. Things will be much more complicated on March 20 as IOC members face an array of choices that will shape the next generation of Olympic Games.
Ed Hula has covered three IOC presidential elections across 25 years on the Olympics beat.
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.
Olympic House in Lausanne
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In what could be a big plus for organizers of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, President-elect Donald Trump is already on board with his support for the Games. He’s even gone so far to take credit for bringing the Olympics to LA.
“As President-Elect, I worked with the Olympic Organizing Committee of Los Angeles in getting the 2028 Olympics to come to the United States. There was tremendous competition from other countries,” Trump wrote in an August post on the Truth Social website. He repeated the claim in a podcast in the past month hosted by Bill Belichik, adding the 2026 World Cup as another event he purports to have secured for the U.S.
The support of the U.S. president is needed for the multiple federal agencies involved with the staging of the Olympics. Security may be the biggest ticket, along with other services ranging from diplomatic functions to weather forecasting.
But the real plum for a U.S. president is the ceremonial role played during the opening ceremony of the Games. As head of state in 2028, his last year in office, Trump will stand at the microphone in SoFi Stadium to declare the opening of the third Summer Games in Los Angeles.
Trump, as it turns out, will play a key role for the 2028 Olympics that no other U.S. President has played. He’ll have overseen the federal government involvement in Los Angeles from the days of the bid eight years ago to the opening of the Games in less than four years. Due to the timing of U.S. elections and the placement of the Olympics, such a coincidence will continue to be rare.
While this latest campaign to bring the Olympics back to Southern California began as a bid for 2024 in the last days of the Barack Obama presidency, it was the first Trump administration that organized the federal support. Then, in 2017, the IOC orchestrated the twin awarding of the 2024 Games to Paris and 2028 to Los Angeles. Included in those machinations was the need to secure the backing of the federal government prior to the IOC vote.
Trump signed the pledge for federal government support for the new dates for the games at a ceremony in Los Angeles in February 2020. Trump was in the final year of his first term, self-assured that he would win the election that year for a second term. Trump teased LA28 chair Casey Wasserman that he would need help with seats at the Games since Trump wasn’t expecting to be in office in 2028.
President Trump at the signing ceremony in February 2020 for the federal guarantees for the 2028 Olympics.
“I hope you remember me in 2028. Okay? Do you promise, Casey? Or will you … ”
“I promise, sir,” replied Wasserman.
“At least give me a seat, okay?” Trump responded.
“Guaranteed,” Wasserman promised.
As it turned out, Trump lost his 2020 re-election bid. But storming back into power following the results of the Nov. 5 vote, Trump can now expect great seats in Los Angeles and the opportunity to open the Games for a worldwide audience. While the head of state remarks are prescribed in the Olympic Charter, that didn’t stop the last U.S. President to open an Olympics from embellishing the script at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Speaking just five months after the 9/11 attacks, George W. Bush inserted a few extra words.
“On behalf of a proud, determined, and grateful nation, I declare open the Games of Salt Lake City, celebrating the Olympic Winter Games,” he proclaimed. While he varied from the protocol, the IOC did not complain.
Given his speechmaking notoriety, there’s no telling what President Donald Trump might say when his microphone opens the evening of July 14, 2028, at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
Life returns to a more normal state for both me and Sheila.
Six weeks ago we returned home from a harrowing ordeal at the Paris Olympics. A near-death experience for me, a distressing crisis for her. Since then the warmth of Florida seems to be melting away the pains of Paris. Your good wishes are speeding our recovery, too.
It all started with a suspect chicken sandwich at the fencing venue.
In case you missed it: a sandwich served in the media snack bar at the Grand Palais fencing venue on day seven of the Games erupted into a weekend of gastric distress. Somehow this morphed into pneumonia when “stuff” got into my lungs and I was unable to expel the infection. We called for help as I realized I might choke to death if I went to sleep.
A battalion of pompiers et saiveurs soon swarmed our tiny flat as I battled to keep breathing. The first responders had their own struggle getting me down six floors to the ambulance. Our flat was on the top floor of a Haussman era building, with a matchbook size elevator and a tightly wound spiral staircase. Today I cannot recall how we got outside to the two vehicles in the building courtyard. Sheila tells me that a couple of floors down I lost consciousness and the first responders laid me out in a tiny hallway while they worked out how to get me down the narrow staircase.
Loaded into the ambulance.
The massive Hospital Georges Pompidou on the south side of Paris was the destination. It would be the place where I would spend the rest of the 2024 Olympics and beyond.
Thanks to the excellent care of the doctors, nurses and aides, I began to overcome my medical crisis from the first day. It wasn’t easy. It would be a week before I could drink water again or eat the yogurt and applesauce that comprised nearly every meal when I was allowed to “dine”. On top of it all, I tested positive for Covid.
It is fair to say that I missed the Olympics that we hoped would be our farewell tour. Instead, I saw the action from the French perspective on a TV in the ICU, including the closing ceremony. The whole tableau was clearly a first in my coverage of the Olympics since 1992. A dubious first.
While I was cheered to be out of the hospital in late August, the extended stay dealt a setback in my ongoing rehabilitation from hip replacement surgery I received in early May. A stumble shooting hoops caused a fall that shattered my right hip. In Paris I used an electric scooter to commute to the Main Press Center. My repaired hip improved daily — until my hospitalization. After two weeks of life mostly in bed, getting back on my feet was the biggest challenge.
Six weeks later, there is world of difference. My stride is improving daily. More and more I walk unaided, without even a cane. Swimming in the pool is a daily occurrence. So is a return to household chores, much to my partner’s glee. Daily dog walks with Buddy are next. They will be the first in five months.
Buddy is glad we made it back to Mount Dora.
I’m not jumping around a basketball court any more at the YMCA here in Mount Dora. But with the help of a personal trainer I am building back the muscle strength (and more) which suffered not only in Paris, but in May when I was in hospital and recovery for nearly three weeks following hip surgery. Physical therapy is helping, too.
The dozens of posts to Facebook and other platforms are most appreciated, expressions of love we want to mutually return. The posts I read from friends and colleagues as I languished in a Paris hospital room were comforting and most welcome. The power of your goodwill is one of the reasons I am here today to say thank you.
A.D. Frazier is remembered as a tireless second-in-command who “got the job done” for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
Frazier, 80, died Sept. 23 at home in Mountain Bluff, a small town in North Georgia. He was a native of North Carolina. Christened Adolphus Drury, he preferred to be known as A.D.
Frazier was tapped in 1991 to become Chief Operating Officer of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. He would become the right hand of CEO Billy Payne. For Frazier, who at the time was managing a $10 billion loan portfolio for a Chicago bank, the ACOG posting marked a return to Atlanta where he started his banking career in 1969.
When Jimmy Carter was elected U.S. President in 1976, Frazier organized the inauguration, delivering an event $1 million under budget. Frazier also helped organize the staff of the new president from Georgia. He went back to Atlanta before heading to Chicago. He was lured back to Atlanta by ACOG chief Billy Payne. Even though his salary of $300,000 a year was half what he made in Chicago, Frazier said there were other considerations to take into account.
“One of the reasons I came back was I felt like this was an opportunity for a lodestone moment in relations of blacks and whites in Atlanta, very much a kind of the civil rights movement where we as a city stood out, stood tall,” said Frazier during an interview last year for a documentary on the Atlanta Olympics The Games in Black & White.
Frazier faced big challenges as COO. With an immutable deadline and a finite budget with no public money to help underwrite expenses, Frazier spent many late nights and early mornings at his ACOG desk, a cot nearby for naps.
Richard Pound, now retired from the IOC, led the IOC Coordination Commission for the Atlanta Olympics and met with Frazier regularly.
“A.D. was absolutely critical in managing Atlanta to get ready. He was critical to the success of the Games,” Pound said this week.
“He was someone who could get the job done,” said Pound.
Charlie Battle, one of the original group of Atlantans who launched the bid for the Centennial Olympics, says Frazier made the Games possible.
“He was a remarkable guy. He had the job of making sure everything was on time and on budget,” said Battle. He called Frazier’s recall of facts “overwhelming”.
A devotee of radio broadcasting, Frazier told me that his pillow had a tiny speaker so he could listen to the news at 4am in bed without disturbing his wife.
That fondness for the medium led him to approve a deal with an Atlanta radio station to serve as the Official News and Information Station for the 1996 Games. He first pitched the idea to me, which was then passed along to management. The deal with ACOG and WGST was first – and only one — of its kind.
Frazier bought a chain of small radio stations in North Georgia in the years after the Games. Despite some initial success, the radio stations would one by one begin to fail, as was the case hundreds of other commercial radio stations across the U.S. Outside the radio business Frazier led a private equity firm.
He wrote some op-ed pieces for Atlanta newspapers in recent years about the magic the city captured in 1996. Here’s part of what he wrote in a piece for the Atlanta Journal Constitution on the 25th anniversary of the Atlanta Games.
“Well, friends, it was indeed a great time in Atlanta’s history. We were center stage for the world. We were fearless, brave, visionary, unified and committed to an idea ‘rooted in goodness’. We were demonstrating to the world the greatness of our Southern hospitality. We put aside those things that divided us and focused — if just for a moment — on those things that made us one. Together.”
Frazier is survived by his wife Sha, two adult children and four grandchildren. No details yet on memorial services.
The biggest-ever field to run for president of the IOC is a healthy sign. Seven members have put their names forward, despite the challenges and demands of the post. That’s two more candidates than 2013, the last time a new president was chosen. Thomas Bach, 70, will step down next June. In August he rejected a call to extend his term for four more years, in part because it would have meant tinkering with the charter that governs the IOC.
Each of the seven brings distinctive qualities suitable for the IOC job. But given the state of the world, some IOC rules and a bit of history, one candidate appears to have an edge.
First, the slate of contenders eager to succeed Bach:
Sebastian Coe, 67, Great Britain, president of World Athletics, Olympian.
Kirsty Coventry, 41, Zimbabwe Minister of Sport, IOC Executive Board member, Olympian
Johan Eliasch, 62, Great Britain, president of ski federation FIS.
Prince Feisal al Hussein, 60, president of the Jordan Olympic Committee, IOC Executive Board member.
David Lappartient, 51, president of cycling federation UCI.
Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., 64, Spain, IOC vice president.
Morinari Watanabe, 65, Japan, president of FIG, the international gymnastics federation.
Four of the nominees are heads of international federations: Coe of World Athletics, Watanabe from gymnastics, Lappartient of cycling and Eliasch skiing.
Each one is handicapped by their status as IOC members linked to their federation. Lose that federation leadership and they no longer are qualified as IOC members. Some finagling by the IOC Session to accommodate them might be possible, but who needs the complication?
Compounding that technicality, historically no IOC president has moved from an IF leadership to the IOC presidency.
Prince Feisal would be able to serve only eight years as president, given his mandate as an IOC member calls for retirement at age 70. For him to seek a final four-year term as IOC president would require a vote by the IOC Session to extend his membership.
If he is chosen as the next IOC president Samaranch would need an IOC vote in 2030 to extend his IOC term as he hits age 70 retirement that year. The term extension would enable him to continue to serve as president for four more years. Under IOC rules he would not be eligible to receive a second extension and thus unable to seek a final term of four years as president. Samaranch’s father was the last president to serve under IOC rules that had no term limits. The elder Samaranch served 21 years before stepping down in 2001, the year the 12-year term took effect.
One candidate beats the rest of the field with regards both to age and potential conflicts with a federation leadership. Kirsty Coventry, the sports minister for Zimbabwe, will be 42 next year, which means she would be able to serve one eight-year and one four-year term and remain in office until 2037.
Kirsty Coventry speaks to the UN General Assembly in June.
Coventry is one of only two Olympians in the running. She has three gold medals in swimming; Coe won two golds in athletics. Coventry entered the IOC in 2013 as a member of the Athletes Commission. That included four years as chair (2018 to 2021) and a seat on the 15-member Executive Board. When she came off the Athletes Commission in 2021 she was named an individual member, able to serve until age 70. Last year Coventry returned to the EB for a four-year term. The only other EB member running for president is Samaranch.
To call Coventry Bach’s protégée would not be a stretch although he will not make any public comment in accordance with IOC rules. Coventry remains the youngest member of the EB. Nonetheless, Bach has handed her high profile assignments. She chairs the commissions overseeing the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar and the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane.
A graduate of Auburn University in the U.S., Coventry has applied her business studies as a member of the IOC Finance commission. She was Bach’s choice to address the United Nations General Assembly in June where she spoke about the IOC commitment to sustainability. Her appearance is believed to be the first for an IOC member who is not president.
So far in the era of presidential term limits the candidate said to be the favorite of the incumbent has coasted to an easy victory.
Jacques Rogge was the favorite of Samaranch senior in 2001. Some 12 years later, Rogge gave his blessings to Bach. Now it’s Bach’s turn to have a say, however discrete, in who takes over from him next June.
There are some other firsts to recognize as possible during this election. Watanabe and Feisal would be the first from Asia. Eliasch — elected in July at the Session in Paris — would be the first from winter sports and the shortest in IOC tenure.
Samaranch would be the only son of an IOC president to also hold that post. Coe, Eliasch and Lappartient would be the first federation leaders to captain the IOC.
Coventry stands apart from her competitors, all male. The fact that other female IOC members who are also well-suited to the job did not declare suggests an invisible hand at work to make Coventry’s candidacy unique.
Not that they will vote as a monolith, but 46 of the 111 members of the IOC are female. A number of those women hail from Africa and presumably are enthusiastic about naming the first IOC president from the continent. Coventry might accrue more support globally from other members of the IOC sisterhood who realize the opportunity they have to help install a fresh face after more than 125 years of male rule. Coventry is not the first woman to run for IOC president. That distinction goes to Anita Defrantz who was eliminated early in the 2001 election won by Rogge.
Candidates have yet to file the limited briefs permitted under campaign rules. Other than this scant information, media promotion is not allowed. Members will meet in January in Switzerland in camera to hear the proposals from the seven contenders. The election is in Greece in late March. Perhaps some of them may leave the race as one candidacy appears to become inevitable. Today that edge belongs to Kirsty Coventry.
The names of those IOC members hoping to succeed Thomas Bach as president will be revealed within days. Candidates nominate themselves in a letter to Bach due by September 15. The list of candidates will be released the next day. Bach steps down in June 2025, three months after the election in March.
Bach put his mark on the IOC and Olympics during 12 years in office. His Olympic Agenda program of reform and change appears to have put the IOC on a pathway to sustainability. The Olympic brand is financially strong and valued at $11 billion. Where cities once feared to bid, more than a dozen cities are now in talks with the IOC about hosting future Games. Gender equality is the rule now for the Olympics. New sports have been added to the program, old ones updated. Recognizing the digital world of sport, an Olympic E game event is planned for 2026. Olympic cities have been selected through 2034.
Whoever succeeds Bach will benefit from his tidy housekeeping. That said, a messy challenge that will require world-class diplomacy also awaits the new president.
I’m talking about the rift between the IOC and Russia that cracked open following the 2014 Olympics in Sochi and widened into a chasm when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Compounded by a massive doping scandal revealed in 2016 that led to sanctions against Russia, the Ukraine offensive led to Russian banishment from the Paris Olympics and likely to be treated the same way with Milan/Cortina in 2026. Depending on the outcome of the war Los Angeles 2028 could be a no for Russia, too.
A question facing the next IOC president is what happens if the hostilities linger? Despite Russia’s doping issues, the country has been an important cog in the Olympic wheel, in both sport and politics. The Olympics are diminished without Russia. At the same time, for the IOC accepting a rogue member of the community of nations is untenable.
Russia so far has not made headway in its threat to mount “Friendship Games” as a counter to the ban on competing in Olympic events. The event is aimed at attracting the BRIC nations and otherwise non-aligned nations. Initially planned in September, there’s no word from Moscow as to whether the project is still in the works. The IOC would be happy if it’s not.
A more pleasing forecast would picture a truce between Ukraine and Russia. While there’s no guess when the war might end, common sense would say one day in the next few years it might.
When that happens, the next IOC president will have to guide the careful restoration of Russia to the Olympic Family. The matter of reconstruction and reparations for sport infrastructure in Ukraine will be on the table. Then there will be the negotiations needed to repatriate the Russian Olympic Committee should the ROC choose to rejoin. If the answer is yes it will be up to the IOC president to take the lead to ensure Russian compliance with the World Anti-Doping code. The IOC president would be one of the key players restoring those relations.
The current 107 IOC members includes a handful with diplomatic experience. Let’s see who is ready and willing to take on the challenge of Russia.
With the midpoint of the Paris Olympics approaching, organizers have avoided crises and complications, even as the number of events hits a peak over the weekend.
The most serious challenge so far was whether the triathlon would take place, pollution in the River Seine the issue. The river has been subject to a multi-billion dollar cleanup for the past six years to make the waterway fit for Olympic sport. In addition to the swimming leg of the triathlon, the marathon swimming event in aquatics is supposed to be held on the river this week as well.
Pollution levels forced postponement of the men’s triathlon by one day in the hopes that another 24 hours would be enough to clear the water. Meeting at 0330 on July 31, five hours before the start of the triathlon, Paris 2024 gave the thumbs up, clearing the way for the men to compete, followed by the women’s event.
Had the river flunked the pollution testing it’s quite possible the triathlon would have turned into a duathlon with the dropping of the swimming leg.
Gold medalists were Alex Yee of Great Britain and Cassandre Beaugrand of France.
Still to come is the mixed relay event on August 5. The 10K marathon swim happens August 8 and 9.
Crowds + Heat
Paris organizers put into play measures to counter the heat with temperatures hitting +30c. But the ten day forecast is calling for a retreat for the heat as more seasonal weather settles in. Rain chances are low which means pollution levels in the Seine should be held in check for the marathon swim.
People Watching
Essar Gabriel, who worked on the ill-fated Paris bid for 2012, has formed Druid, a company that handles turnkey planning for sports events such as the Olympics. Gabriel says his firm is responsible for seven venues for Paris. He says organizing committees can turn to his firm for venue expertise instead hiring staff.
Jan Lehmann is the first-ever CEO for the European Olympic Committees. The German sports marketing executive was hired three months ago and works in the Rome headquarters for the continental federation. He’s been in Paris taking in the Olympic scene, guided by Jon Tibbs of JTA, the British sports marketing firm which includes the EOC as a client.
Jeff Millman, once the comms director for Los Angeles 2024 is back, helping plan media operations for the 2028 Games. He’s one of dozens of LA 28 staff who have spent time observing Paris during the past two months.
Once a major player in the Olympic hospitality arena, JetSet Sports lost that distinction when the IOC designated U.S. firm On Location to handle Olympic Games hospitality. But JetSet is still active in the space, led by newly named CEO Alan Dizdarevic. Founder and father Sead Dizdarevic is now chairman of the company based in New Jersey. Alan says JetSet has managed more than 400 hotel rooms for the Olympics. A swish hospitality center is up and running at the famed George V hotel.
After an opening ceremony for the ages, athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympics are in action in the first full day of competition.
China wins the first gold medal of the Games in the 10 meter air pistol. The shooting event is traditionally the first where medals are awarded. More to come through the day in shooting.
The opening ceremony Friday drew a record crowd for the event. As many as 300,000 spectators lined the banks of the Seine. Fears about security lapses were unwarranted with not even minor incidents breaking the spell of fantasy and fancy cast in the four-hour production. Rain was an unwelcome feature of the evening from beginning to end but failed to cause more than annoyance by show producers. For spectators who braved the wet weather, their soggy duds were viewed as a badge of distinction.
The Olympic flag raised at the Trocadero was hoisted upside down, maybe the only noticeable glitch in the protocol portion of the ceremony.
The first day of swimming drew a full house at the 6,000 seat aquatics center for the morning heats. The same is expected tonight for the first medal races of the aquatics program.
IOC President Thomas Bach will head to Stade de France Saturday night for the medal matches in rugby sevens.
Weather is expected to improve in the days ahead with warmer temperatures in the range of 25c.
