THE OLYMPICS: BACH’S LEGACY AND CHALLENGES AHEAD

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A Decade of Transformation
For 12 years, Thomas Bach has led the International Olympic Committee (IOC) through an era of unprecedented challenges. From a global pandemic that forced two Olympic Games to be held without spectators to a state-sponsored Russian doping scandal, his tenure has been defined by crises and reform.

The Games were host­ed in Rus­sia, Brazil, South Korea, Chi­na, and France, each fac­ing polit­i­cal tur­moil, war, or region­al ten­sions. Through it all, Bach has remained stead­fast in his belief that the Olympics should remain polit­i­cal­ly neu­tral.

A Vision of Uni­ty
As he pre­pares to leave his posi­tion, Bach insists that the Games must con­tin­ue to serve as a sym­bol of glob­al uni­ty. “Sport has to be polit­i­cal­ly neu­tral; oth­er­wise, we can­not accom­plish our mis­sion to bring the entire world togeth­er,” he told CNN. He point­ed to the Paris 2024 Games as proof that ath­letes from con­flict-rid­den nations—including Rus­sia, Ukraine, Israel, and Palestine—can com­pete togeth­er peace­ful­ly.

The Road to Los Ange­les 2028
The next Olympic Games in Los Ange­les face an uncer­tain polit­i­cal cli­mate. The Unit­ed States remains deeply divid­ed, and past admin­is­tra­tions have demon­strat­ed con­trast­ing atti­tudes toward the Olympics. Bach remains con­fi­dent that for­mer Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump, who sup­port­ed Los Ange­les’ bid, will con­tin­ue to back the Games despite his often polar­iz­ing approach to gov­er­nance.

Ath­letes Caught in Polit­i­cal Bat­tles
While Trump has been a vocal sup­port­er of the Olympics, his administration’s poli­cies have cre­at­ed new con­cerns. His exec­u­tive order bar­ring trans­gen­der women from com­pet­ing in women’s sports has intro­duced com­pli­ca­tions for ath­letes prepar­ing for LA 2028. Visa restric­tions could poten­tial­ly affect those who do not meet the administration’s gen­der def­i­n­i­tions, adding fur­ther uncer­tain­ty to the Games.

Mis­in­for­ma­tion and Tar­get­ed Attacks
Bach has defend­ed ath­letes against mis­in­for­ma­tion, par­tic­u­lar­ly in the case of gold-medal-win­ning box­ers Imane Khe­lif and Lin Yu-ting. Both were false­ly accused of being trans­gen­der ath­letes, fuel­ing online abuse and polit­i­cal con­tro­ver­sy. The issue was exac­er­bat­ed by the Russ­ian-backed Inter­na­tion­al Box­ing Asso­ci­a­tion (IBA), which attempt­ed to dis­qual­i­fy them. Bach con­demned the attacks as part of a broad­er cam­paign to under­mine the IOC’s author­i­ty.

The Rus­sia Ques­tion
Bach’s rela­tion­ship with Russ­ian Pres­i­dent Vladimir Putin has evolved from ini­tial coop­er­a­tion dur­ing the 2014 Sochi Games to open hos­til­i­ty fol­low­ing Russia’s state-spon­sored dop­ing scan­dal and the inva­sion of Ukraine. The IOC has since imposed sanc­tions on Russ­ian ath­letes, allow­ing only indi­vid­ual com­peti­tors to par­tic­i­pate under a neu­tral ban­ner. Crit­ics argue the response has not been strong enough, while oth­ers main­tain that pun­ish­ing ath­letes for polit­i­cal actions is unfair.

Belaru­sian ath­letes have also found them­selves in the cross­fire. Those who oppose the regime face exile, impris­on­ment, and bans, while oth­ers are pres­sured to align with state pro­pa­gan­da. The IOC’s stance on Belarus remains ambigu­ous, high­light­ing the broad­er strug­gle of bal­anc­ing polit­i­cal real­i­ties with the Olympic ide­al.

Look­ing Ahead
As Bach steps down, his suc­ces­sor will inher­it a com­plex land­scape where pol­i­tics, social issues, and inter­na­tion­al rela­tions con­tin­ue to inter­sect with sports. The ques­tion remains: can the Olympics main­tain their neu­tral­i­ty in an increas­ing­ly polar­ized world? Accord­ing to Bach, “It’s not about Rus­sia. It is about the ath­letes. Every­body who is fol­low­ing the rules has a place in the Olympics.” Yet for many ath­letes, espe­cial­ly those from Belarus, the rules of sur­vival extend far beyond the play­ing field.