POLISH PRESIDENT ANDRZEJ DUDA INTENDS TO RUN FOR IOC PRESIDENCY

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Polish President Andrzej Duda has announced his intention to apply for the position of President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after his term as head of state concludes in 2025.

This news was shared by for­mer Pol­ish Pres­i­dent Alexan­der Kwas­niews­ki, who expressed skep­ti­cism about Duda’s prospects.

“Andrzej Duda is look­ing for some­thing to do after his pres­i­den­cy. But I advise him to look for some­thing more real­is­tic,” Kwas­niews­ki said. He point­ed out that the IOC has spe­cif­ic rules for select­ing its mem­bers and pres­i­dent, which typ­i­cal­ly favor for­mer ath­letes, coach­es, and Olympians. “There is a small loop­hole that a politi­cian could exploit, but this is just the­o­ret­i­cal. If the politi­cian orga­nized or sig­nif­i­cant­ly con­tributed to the Olympics… But as you know, there were no Olympics in Poland,” Kwas­niews­ki added.

Duda, cur­rent­ly serv­ing his sec­ond term as pres­i­dent, is con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly barred from seek­ing a third term in the 2025 elec­tions. As his tenure draws to a close, the upcom­ing elec­tion for the IOC pres­i­den­cy, set for 2025, has become a poten­tial next step for him.

This devel­op­ment adds anoth­er intrigu­ing can­di­date to the race for IOC Pres­i­dent, as Sebas­t­ian Coe, the Pres­i­dent of World Ath­let­ics, has also expressed his inter­est in the role. Coe, a two-time Olympic cham­pi­on and leader of the 2012 Lon­don Olympics Orga­niz­ing Com­mit­tee, brings a wealth of Olympic expe­ri­ence to the table. “I’ve been deeply involved in the Olympic move­ment for most of my life,” Coe said, sig­nal­ing his readi­ness to take on the chal­lenge.

The race to suc­ceed cur­rent IOC Pres­i­dent Thomas Bach, who announced he will not seek re-elec­tion after his term ends in 2025, is shap­ing up to be high­ly com­pet­i­tive. With Duda and Coe both eye­ing the top posi­tion, the future lead­er­ship of the IOC could take var­i­ous direc­tions, depend­ing on the organization’s pri­or­i­ties and the qual­i­ties they seek in their next pres­i­dent.