The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has today revealed a shortlist of seven candidates to replace long-serving Thomas Bach as president of the organization.
Prince Feisal Al Hussein, Sebastian Coe, Kirsty Coventry, Johan Eliasch, David Lappartient, Juan Antonio Samaranch, and Morinari Watanabe, all officially announced their candidacies by the midnight (CET) deadline yesterday (September 15).
The next step will see the candidates present their programmes to the full IOC membership at a meeting to be held in Lausanne (Switzerland) in January 2025.
The election for the presidency of the IOC will take place at the 143rd IOC Session to be held from 18 to 21 March 2025 in Greece. The successful candidate will then take charge in June 2025.
Bach confirmed in August that he will step down following the conclusion of his second term next year.
The 70-year-old, who has been in charge since 2013, told IOC members at a session during the conclusion of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris that he would not run for re-election.
If Bach had wanted to stay on, a change in the IOC’s statutes would have been required - currently, the president is limited to two terms (eight years followed by four years), coming to 12 years in total.
Many observers had expected Bach and the IOC to move towards making this change - but Bach, involved with the Swiss-based body since 1991, and last re-elected in 2021, confirmed this will not be the case.
Kirsty Coventry is the only woman in the running to become IOC president. She currently serves as an IOC executive board member and the Minister of Sport, Arts and Recreation of Zimbabwe.
The IOC has only had male presidents throughout its 130-year history.
Coventry, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, is the first woman to compete for the IOC presidency since Anita DeFrantz in 2001, who was eliminated in the first round of voting.
Coe, a two-time gold medalist in running, is currently president of the World Athletics governing body and signaled his intention to run after Bach’s announcement.
He was previously chair of the London 2012 games and the British Olympic Association.
Coe is currently himself in a third term heading up World Athletics, having most recently been re-elected unopposed last year.
Before moving into sports administration, Coe won four medals in the Olympics, including golds in 1980 and 1984.
Lappartient, meanwhile, is president of the UCI, cycling’s governing body, and the CNOSF, the French national Olympic Committee.
He was elected as president of the CNOSF in June 2023, but his term will end in 2025 as he is only seeing out the remainder of Brigitte Henriques’ term after she suddenly resigned in May last year.
At the time, Lappartient had already stated he does not intend to stand for another term and was only focused on steadying the body before, during, and after the Olympics.
Al Hussein of Jordan has been on the IOC board since 2019 and was re-elected in 2023 for another term.
Samaranch of Spain, whose father served as IOC president for 21 years, is one of four IOC vice presidents.
Watanabe is president of the International Gymnastics Federation, while Johan Eliasch is president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.
The formal list of candidates will be confirmed in January.
Only IOC members can stand for election, with the 111-member body casting the final votes.
The most recent Olympic Games took place in Paris across late July and early August, with the next games (the Winter Olympics) set for Milan-Cortina (northern Italy) in early 2026.
