Seven Candidates Announced to Succeed Thomas Bach as IOC President

Seven candidates will compete in the election for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee at the 143rd IOC Session held from March 18–21, 2025, in Greece.

The seven applicants officially announced their candidacies by the deadline of midnight on September 15. The group includes two former Olympic champions, a prince and the son of a former president. The global leaders of cycling, gymnastics and skiing also are in the mix.

The candidates are vying to replace the outgoing Thomas Bach, who has reached the maximum of 12 years in office. Bach declined at the Paris Olympics last month to seek to change IOC rules in order to stay in office longer.

There is only one woman applying, as Kirsty Coventry, a two-time swimming Olympic gold medalist and sports minister in the Cabinet of Zimbabwe, will look to be the first female president in the IOC’s 130-year history. The only woman ever to stand as an IOC presidential candidate was Anita DeFrantz, a former Olympic rower from the United States. She was eliminated in the first round of voting in a five-candidate election in 2001, which was won by Jacques Rogge.

The other Olympic champion in the field is Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics and a two-time gold medalist in running. Coe led the 2012 London Olympics bidding and organizing committees and has presided at World Athletics for nine years. But he has clashed with the IOC, Bach and leaders of other sports bodies on several issues, including the decision to award $50,000 cash prizes to track and field gold medalists in Paris. The IOC has an age limit of 70 for members, while Coe will be 68 on election day. The rules allow for a special exemption to remain for four more years, but that would mean a six-year presidency unless those limits are changed.

Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. of Spain is one of the four IOC vice presidents and an investment banker whose father was IOC president for 21 years until 2001. The Spanish official, like Coe, also would need an extension to the IOC age limit. Prince Feisal Al Hussein is a member of the IOC Board and president of the Jordan Olympic Committee.

There are also three presidents of international federations up for nomination, including Johan Eliasch, president of the International Ski Federation; David Lappartient, president of the International Cycling Union, and Morinari Watanabe, president of the International Federation of Gymnastics. Lappartient also is president of France’s national Olympic body and leads a French Alps project that was picked to host the 2030 Winter Games. Eliasch was elected as an IOC member in Paris less than two months ago and got 17 “no” votes, a notably high number in Olympic politics.

The candidates will present their programs to the full IOC membership in Lausanne in January 2025 before a vote of the 111 IOC members in Greece three months later. Only IOC members are eligible to stand as candidates, with votes cast by the rest of the 111-strong membership of the Olympic body with members prevented from publicly endorsing their pick. Campaign limits on the candidates include a block on publishing videos, organizing public meetings and taking part in public debates.