Battle for powerful International Olympic Committee presidency enters final stretch

BERLIN – Only a few people around the world know the name Thomas Bach and even fewer can rattle off those of the seven candidates out to replace him in March after 12 years as president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Yet, despite that low profile, there is no bigger or more influential job in sport, and the German’s successor will wield extraordinary political and financial clout across every country in the world.

When the IOC’s 100-plus members, who include billionaires, global captains of industry, federation chiefs and royalty, go to the ballot in Greece on March 20, they will be effectively deciding on the direction much of the world of sport will take for the next eight years.

World Athletics chief and two-time Olympic 1,500 metres champion Sebastian Coe is the biggest name of the seven candidates.

Standing against him are Zimbabwe’s Sports Minister and former Olympic swimmer Kirsty Coventry (the sole female candidate), the late former IOC president’s son Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr and international cycling chief David Lappartient.

Completing the line-up are Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan, international gymnastics federation head Morinari Watanabe and Olympic newcomer and multimillionaire Johan Eliasch.

They presented their case to replace 71-year-old Bach to the membership in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Jan 30, ahead of a final two-month push of behind-the-scenes lobbying.

Richest organisation

The IOC is by far the biggest and richest sports organisation in the world, dwarfing even world football’s ruling body Fifa, and wields its influence over almost every major international federation, new sports and national Olympic committees.

With multibillion revenues from sponsors and broadcasters, it is far from limited to just hosting the Summer and Winter Olympics. The IOC has a direct or indirect say in every major international decision on sport, whether financial, political or structural.

Sports do not only depend on Olympic funding over the Games’ four-year cycle, they are also reliant on the Olympic spotlight. New sports battle for Olympic recognition, which brings a significant boost in publicity and awareness, and can trigger new streams of revenue to fund growth.

In Bach’s 12 years in charge, the former lawyer also developed close ties with many political leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country hosted the 2024 Olympics, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Putin was the first to congratulate Bach immediately after his election back in 2013, calling minutes after the vote as his country prepared to host the Sochi Winter Olympics, at an unprecedented cost of US$55 billion (S$74.2 billion).

Sochi was subsequently tarnished by revelations of a massive state-backed doping system in Russia that turned into the biggest international drug scandal in decades and forced the country’s athletes to compete as neutrals in several Olympics.

Dealing with Russia, and the issue of trans and differences in sexual development athletes in sport, featured in most of the candidates’ manifestos. But anyone thinking they will be primarily judged on their ability to bring peace and harmony, and promote sport and health around the world, is sadly deluded.

“In this presidential election, everyone votes for themselves. It is about money. The share for each stakeholder. It is no surprise that there are four federation presidents campaigning,” an international federation chief, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

“Maybe it would have been more effective if there was only one representing the federations. But everyone has their own agenda in this election.”

Robust finances

The IOC collected revenues of US$2.295 billion from its top sponsors from 2017 to 2021, the second-biggest source of income for the Olympic movement, with broadcasters paying US$4.544 billion over the same period.

Bach’s departure comes with the organisation in a financially robust position, having secured US$7.3 billion for 2025 to 2028 and US$6.2 billion for 2029 to 2032. More deals are expected for both four-year periods.

The IOC says it pumps about 90 per cent of its revenues back into sports with payments to each Olympic federation, to national Olympic committees and athletes’ scholarships among others.

Many of the smaller federations depend on that IOC contribution to get through the four years until the next Games.

More than half a billion dollars was split among the federations from the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, with the share from the Paris 2024 Games to top US$600 million.

Top earners like athletics, gymnastics and swimming get more than US$50 million. National Olympic committees also received a total of US$540 million after the Tokyo Games.

The IOC covers 50 per cent of the costs of running the World Anti-Doping Agency, which it helped to set up more than 25 years ago.

Much of what cash goes where, though, is down to the president’s personal Olympic vision and in a matter of weeks that extraordinary global power is about to change hands. REUTERS