There Are 7 New IOC Presidential Candidates To Replace Thomas Bach

The current President of the IOC Thomas Bach (left) (doc. NOC).

JAKARTA The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has officially announced seven of their new presidential candidates who will replace Thomas Bach at the IOC Session.

The IOC Session is planned to be held in Greece on March 18-21, 2025. It is certain that Bach will not again run for IOC President for the third term.

Bach complies with the maximum 12-year leadership limit in the IOC Charter which will automatically expire next year.

Quoted from the official IOC website, the seven candidates are Prince Feisal Al Hussein (Yordania), Lord Sebastian Coe (United Kingdom), Johan Eliasch (Sweden), David Lappartient (France), Juan Antonio Samaranch (Spain), Morinari Watanabe (Japan), and Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe).

"We are building communication with all IOC Presidential candidates. Most of the candidates have good relations with NOC Indonesia, both institutionally and individually," said Chairman of the Indonesian Olympic Committee (NOC), Raja Sapta Oktohari.

Prince Feisal Al Hussein is a member of the family of the Kingdom of Jordan who consistently supports the development of sports in Arab soil. He currently serves as President of the Jordanian Olympic Committee and President Jordan Volleyball Federation and has held various positions in the IOC.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Coe is a former Olympic athlete in athletics in medium-range running. He was famous for winning two gold medals at 1,500 meters at the 1980 and 1984 Olympics.

Since 2015 until now, the 67-year-old Coe has served as President of World Athletics.

Furthermore, Eliasch currently serves as President of the International Ski Federation (FIS) from Sweden. The 62-year-old man is also the IOC Member.

Meanwhile, David Lappartient is the President of Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) for three terms since 2017. His name is listed as the IOC Member and Chairman of the IOC Esport Commission and the President of the France National Olympic Committee who has just successfully held the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The next name is Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. currently serving as Vice President of the IOC. His move to run as a candidate for President of the IOC is believed to follow in the footsteps of his father, Juan Antonio Samaranch, who served as President of the IOC from 1980 to 2001.

The sixth candidate from Japan, Morinari, is the President of the Federation International Gymnastic (FIG). The 65-year-old man has been an IOC Member since 2018.

The last name is Kirsty Coventry, which is the only female candidate for the IOC President's candidacy this time.

Coventry is a former Zimbabwean Olympic athlete who has been selected as an IOC Member as well as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athlete Commission since 2012 and was elected as Executive Member of the IOC Committee in 2023.

Each candidate will present their program to IOC members at a meeting to be held in Lausanne, Switzerland, in January 2025.

The IOC is a non-profit organization focused on promoting sports around the world and distributing more than 90 percent of its revenue to support athletes and sports organizations globally.