SEVEN CANDIDATES ANNOUNCED FOR IOC PRESIDENCY

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Seven candidates will vie for the position of President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) during the 143rd IOC Session, scheduled for 18–21 March 2025 in Greece.

The can­di­dates, list­ed in alpha­bet­i­cal order, are:

- HRH Prince Feisal AL HUSSEIN (Jor­dan)
— Lord Sebas­t­ian COE (Unit­ed King­dom)
— Mrs. Kirsty COVENTRY (Zim­bab­we)
— Mr. Johan ELIASCH (Swe­den)
— Mr. David LAPPARTIENT (France)
— Mr. Juan Anto­nio SAMARANCH (Spain)
— Mr. Mori­nari WATANABE (Japan)

These lead­ers have offi­cial­ly announced their can­di­da­cies by the dead­line of 15 Sep­tem­ber 2024. Each will present their pro­grams in a closed ses­sion to the full IOC mem­ber­ship in Lau­sanne, Switzer­land, in Jan­u­ary 2025. This line­up includes two for­mer Olympic cham­pi­ons, a Mid­dle East­ern prince, and the son of a for­mer IOC pres­i­dent. The lead­ers of glob­al cycling, gym­nas­tics, and ski­ing orga­ni­za­tions are also in the mix.

Notably, Kirsty Coven­try from Zim­bab­we is the only woman in the race, aim­ing to become the first female pres­i­dent in the IOC’s 130-year his­to­ry. Coven­try, a two-time Olympic gold medal­ist in swim­ming, brings expe­ri­ence from her role as Zimbabwe’s sports min­is­ter and as an IOC exec­u­tive board mem­ber.

Sebas­t­ian Coe, anoth­er two-time Olympic cham­pi­on from the UK, has exten­sive expe­ri­ence in sports admin­is­tra­tion, hav­ing led the suc­cess­ful Lon­don 2012 Olympics and served as pres­i­dent of World Ath­let­ics. How­ev­er, he faces poten­tial chal­lenges due to the IOC’s age lim­it, as he will be 68 at the time of the elec­tion.

Prince Feisal al Hus­sein of Jor­dan, also on the IOC board, adds a roy­al pres­ence to the race, while Juan Anto­nio Sama­ranch Jr. of Spain, son of the for­mer IOC pres­i­dent, brings a lega­cy of lead­er­ship as one of the IOC’s vice pres­i­dents.

Oth­er can­di­dates include David Lap­par­tient of France, the pres­i­dent of cycling’s gov­ern­ing body, who recent­ly over­saw the suc­cess­ful Paris Sum­mer Games, and Mori­nari Watan­abe of Japan, the head of gym­nas­tics. Johan Eliasch, a new­ly elect­ed IOC mem­ber and the pres­i­dent of the Inter­na­tion­al Ski and Snow­board Fed­er­a­tion, rounds out the list.

The IOC elec­tion is known for its dis­cre­tion, with strict cam­paign rules lim­it­ing pub­lic endorse­ments and debates. Can­di­dates will present their pro­grams behind closed doors in Lau­sanne, Switzer­land, in Jan­u­ary 2025, ahead of the final vote in Greece.

The next IOC pres­i­dent will need to nav­i­gate the com­plex­i­ties of glob­al sports pol­i­tics, ath­lete wel­fare, and the finan­cial respon­si­bil­i­ties of man­ag­ing an orga­ni­za­tion that gen­er­ates bil­lions in rev­enue from the Olympic Games. The elec­tion out­come will shape the future of the Olympic move­ment for the next eight years.

The cur­rent IOC Pres­i­dent, Thomas Bach of Ger­many, who has served since 2013, will step down at the end of his sec­ond term in March 2025.