A look at the seven candidates in the International Olympic Committee presidential election

Associated Press

19-03-2025

COSTA NAVARINO, Greece (AP) — A look at the seven candidates in the International Olympic Committee presidential election on Thursday:
Sebastian Coe
The most obviously qualified candidate in the field though likely not favorite. A two-time Olympic champion runner in the 1,500 meters; led the winning bid and organizing of the 2012 London Olympics; the president for a decade of track body World Athletics; his former jobs include elected lawmaker in the British parliament and head of the British Olympic Association. World Athletics is in the front line of drafting eligibility rules designed to protect women's events, including on transgender athletes. Another signature policy was paying $50,000 prize money to track and field gold medalists at the 2024 Paris Olympics. That move, and how it was announced, annoyed outgoing IOC president Thomas Bach and also leaders of other sports. Some of those will vote Thursday. Has promised IOC members more genuine involvement in debates and decisions. And to present himself for re-election after four years instead of eight.
Kirsty Coventry
A two-time Olympic champion in swimming and currently the appointed sports minister of Zimbabwe. At age 41, she would be a young IOC president, also the first woman and first African leader in its 131-year history. Crucially, she has Bach's support and in her manifesto offered almost complete continuity with his policies. How active and interventionist that support has been is a major talking point. She is widely expected to lead in the first-round ballot. From 2018-21 she was athlete representative on the Bach-chaired IOC executive board. That period did little to expand athlete commercial rights now proposed by other candidates.
Johan Eliasch
The Swedish-born, British citizen president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation since 2021. Also the billionaire owner and former long-time CEO of the Head sportswear and equipment brand. He has been an advisor to British governments of both main political parties. A key line in his manifesto was this is 'no time for a novice.' Long involved in environmental projects. As a response to the challenges of changing climate, proposes rotating the Winter Games among a group of permanent venues. Opposes paying athlete prize money from IOC revenues, and wants to ensure 'only those who were born female can compete in women's sport.' If Eliasch does not win, he might soon rise to the IOC executive board.
Prince Feisal al Hussein
The younger brother of Jordan's King Abdullah II, Prince Feisal is the latest of his family to run for sports leadership. His sister Princess Haya was a former IOC member when president of equestrian's governing body — and like Prince Feisal, voted in Thomas Bach's 2013 win — and their brother Prince Ali was a FIFA vice president who twice ran for the top job in 2015 and 2016. 'I grew up in a family that knows all about service,' Prince Feisal said Wednesday. From a military background, he has led Jordan's Olympic body for 22 years, joined the IOC in 2010 and created a peace-promoting sports NGO. He proposes giving members more input, that athletes should be 'properly valued' and would open continental offices to decentralize the 700-strong IOC administration in Switzerland.
David Lappartient
The former mayor of a small town in Brittany, France, has been president of the International Cycling Union since 2017. Lappartient is a fast-rising and busy IOC member since joining just three years ago. He already oversaw, at Bach's request, preparing a 12-year deal with Saudi Arabia for creating and staging video gaming Esport Olympics. It will debut in 2027. As head of the French Olympic body, he quickly pulled together an Olympics bid in 2023 leading to the French Alps hosting the 2030 Winter Games. Though he has flourished in the Bach presidency, his manifesto proposes ideas including giving members more active input, cutting the number of committees and giving the IOC Ethics Commission independence from the president's office. Aged just 51, a loss Thursday need not end his IOC leadership ambition.
Juan Antonio Samaranch
Samaranch turned seven in the year his father, also Juan Antonio, was first elected as an IOC member in 1966. He joined the IOC at the same 2001 meeting in Moscow where his father stood down after 21 years as president. Now at 65 comes the chance to follow his father leading the worldwide Olympic movement. Samaranch positions himself as a genuinely global figure tuned in to all political challenges the IOC presidency demands. He grew up in Franco's Spain, experienced Soviet Russia when his father was ambassador there, worked in 1980s banking and finance in the U.S. and is well connected in modern China. Samaranch was the IOC's point person preparing for the 2022 Beijing Winter Games in a pandemic lockdown that was President Xi Jinping's personal project. He has been on the IOC board for most of the past 13 years and delivered a manifesto with the most policy proposals. He wants to relax strict broadcast rules and let Olympic athletes use footage of their games performances on social media and be global influencers.
Morinari Watanabe
Though clearly an outsider in the IOC contest, the Japanese president of the International Gymnastics Federation had some of the most vivid ideas in his manifesto. An eye-catching rethinking of the Summer Games suggested a rolling 24-hour sports program across five continents: one city and 10 sports in each of five continents. Watanabe said this would add more sports and allow more and smaller cities to be Olympic hosts while meeting sustainability targets. He also would restructure the IOC as a House and Senate. A lower chamber of the 206 national Olympic bodies and sports governing bodies would recommend ideas for a decision-making upper chamber of up to 120 IOC members. The IOC president would have three terms of four years instead of the current initial eight year mandate followed by four years.
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