The casting is now known. It includes seven characters, six men and one woman. But the campaign for the IOC presidency, which opened on Monday, September 16, has not yet really begun.
With almost six months to the day until the election, scheduled for the 143rd IOC session in Greece (March 18-21, 2025), the outcome of the race remains very uncertain. The last election, in September 2013 in Buenos Aires, had the appearance of a plebiscite for Thomas Bach. Favorite since the first day, supported by the powerful Sheikh Ahmad, the German won in the second round of voting, despite competition from four other candidates.
This time, the landscape seems less clear. Sheikh Ahmad is no longer there. And the Kuwaiti has no equivalent in the Olympic movement, in terms of influence and network. It is therefore difficult to identify a favorite in the current campaign.
At this stage, the questions remain unanswered. But the last two days have allowed us to learn a little more about the chances, intentions and profile of the candidates.
First lesson: the seven candidates are not all equal when it comes to the age limit criterion, recalled by Ban Ki-moon, the president of the IOC ethics commission, in a letter sent last week to all members of the body.
For each of them, the IOC has specified the possible length of the mandate on the special page of its website devoted to the election. The two youngest in the race, Kirsty Coventry (41 years old) and David Lappartient (51 years old), are not concerned. They could serve an initial mandate of eight years, then extend it with a second one of four years, without being worried by the question of age.
For the other five, however, the current IOC rules could pose a problem. Sebastian Coe, the oldest of the group of seven – he will be 68 on September 29 – could not theoretically complete a first term. He could just be extended as a member, but only once, until 2030.
Juan Antonio Samaranch and Morinari Watanabe could complete an eight-year term, but could not go further. The same goes for Johan Eliasch, who would be two years short of completing a second four-year term.
On the other hand, Prince Feisal al Hussein of Jordan could be extended until 2037. Enough to complete an eight-year term, then follow it up with a second one of half that length.
Another lesson: the casting announced Monday, September 16 by Lausanne could open the door to several major firsts in the history of the body. The vote next March could elect the first female president of the IOC (Kirsty Coventry), the first member from the African continent (Kirsty Coventry, again), the first Asian (Feisal al Hussein or Morinari Watanabe).
As a reminder, the body has had only nine presidents since its creation. All were men. Eight of them were European, the ninth American.
For the rest, what do we know? Several things. The first: the seven candidates have not yet really started the work. None of them have provided the IOC with their application document. They will be added to their profile on the body’s website. They will have to have completed their program by the end of January, at the time of the big oral presentation planned in Lausanne in front of all the members.
The second: David Lappartient, the most heavily equipped of all the candidates (he chairs the Morbihan department, the French Olympic Committee and the International Cycling Union), will give up all his mandates if he is elected to the presidency of the IOC. He assured this on Monday, September 16 in an interview with the daily newspaper West France.
Finally, expected but anecdotal: Russia does not want to see Sebastian Coe settle into the presidential office. Former biathlete Alexander Tikhonov, four times Olympic gold medalist in relay under the colors of the USSR, explained this to the agency TASS : ” Sebastian Coe’s candidacy is the worst. If he is elected, Russia will have no place in the international Olympic movement for the foreseeable future. He will be even worse than Thomas Bach. » His favorite candidate: Juan Antonio Samaranch.
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