The Zimbabwe Minister of Sport, Kirsty Coventry, is hotly tipped to become the next president of the International Olympic Committee after the incumbent Thomas Bach said on Saturday he will not seek a third term.
Bach's successor will be elected during the IOC's 143rd session in Athens from March 18-21, 2025 and will take office the following June.
According to reports from Paris at the weekend, the jostling to succeed Bach will now begin, with some well-informed IOC watchers tipping Zimbabwean former swimmer Coventry, 40, for the role.
The IOC never had a woman as president in its 130-year history. One of its members, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, was the president of Croatia for five years until 2020.
"New times are calling for new leaders," the 70-year-old German lawyer Bach, who has been in charge since 2013, told a session of IOC members in the French capital.
Bach said he was asked to stay in his role, but insisted he would not attempt to extend his mandate by changing the Olympic charter that limits the president to a maximum of 12 years in the role.
"I know with this decision I am disappointing many of you . . . but it is in the best interests of our beloved Olympic movement," he said.
His successor will be elected during the IOC's 143rd session in Athens from March 18-21, 2025 and will take office the following June.
Apart from Coventry, Aruban Nicole Hoevertsz, a 60-year-old former synchronised swimmer and IOC vice-president, has also been cited as a possible contender, along with World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe, a British two-time Olympic gold medallist over 1 500m.
Bach, who won gold for West Germany in the foil fencing team event at the 1976 Olympics, was elected an IOC member at the age of 37 and went on to play a series of influential roles within the organisation, notably as a founding member of the IOC's Athletes' Commission, before taking over from Jacques Rogge.
When he was elected in 2013, the Bavarian claimed to embody the renewal of Olympism -- in particular with less expensive and more environmentally friendly Games -- with the slogan "change or be changed".
"This mantra also applies to myself," he said, before pausing for a few moments, with tears in his eyes.
Bach has repeatedly voiced his opposition to sports boycotts, attempting to establish a watertight boundary between political conflicts and the Olympics.
The next president will be able to prepare for the future with peace of mind with the summer and winter Olympic Games awarded until 2034, with "significant" interest in the 2036 and 2040 editions, Bach said.
During the 142nd Session, Bach insisted on the need for new leadership that could better take on many of the challenges of an increasingly digital and politically pressured world as well as "the need to establish dialogue" with all regions of the world.
"In our Olympic world, there is not a global south or global north. I will also be at your disposal with all my passion for our beloved Olympic movement," the former fencer concluded.
The Associated Press reported other candidates that would include several members of the IOC's executive board like vice presidents Nicole Hoevertsz of Aruba and Juan Antonio Samaranch of Spain, the son of the former IOC president for 21 years.
Juan Antonio Samaranch, the father, left office in 2001 after the Salt Lake City controversy and died in 2010. Board member Prince Feisal al Hussein of Jordan is another possible nominee.
As for Coe, Bach and the Briton have seldom seen eye-to-eye, most notably on the latest prize-money initiative by World Athletics, which the IOC leadership frowned upon. Coe is also currently 68 years old, two shy of the age limit set for elected members since the Salt Lake City reforms.
On the other hand, David Lappartient, the president of the International Cycling Union, has been featured quite prominently next to Bach at Paris events and has led the IOC's initiative to promote an Esports Olympic Games deal with Saudi Arabia, as well as the recently-approved French Alps bid for the 2030 Winter Games.
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Bach said new elections were scheduled to be held from March 18-21 in Greece when the 115-strong IOC membership will next meet, and the next IOC boss would then officially succeed him on 24 June 2025.
"In order to safeguard the credibility of the IOC we all, and in particular I as your president, have to respect the highest standards of good governance we have set for ourselves," he stated.
During the 142nd Session, Bach insisted on the need for new leadership that could better take on many of the challenges of an increasingly digital and politically pressured world as well as "the need to establish dialogue" with all regions of the world.
"In our Olympic world, there is not a global south or global north. I will also be at your disposal with all my passion for our beloved Olympic movement," the former fencer concluded.
