Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry among 7 candidates for Olympics presidency

Coventry is the only woman on the shortlist

By Reuters

World athletics chief Sebastian Coe, multimillionaire and Olympic newcomer Johan Eliasch and Zimbabwe’s sports minister Kirsty Coventry are among seven candidates for next year’s International Olympic Committee (IOC) presidency election, the body said on Monday.

IOC vice-president Juan Antonio Samaranch, son of the late former IOC president, international cycling chief David Lappartient, Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan and international gymnastics federation head Morinari Watanabe are also in the running to succeed current president Thomas Bach.

The 70-year-old German is stepping down next year after 12 years at the helm. The election will be held at the IOC session in ancient Olympia, Greece in March 2025.

The candidates will all present their programmes, behind closed doors, to the full IOC membership in January 2025.

The IOC, with 111 members, is in charge of the Olympic Games and the multibillion-dollar industry linked to the world’s biggest multisports event.

Bach’s departure comes with the organisation in a financially robust position, having secured $7.3bn for the years 2025-28 and $6.2bn already in deals for 2029 to 2032.

The president is elected to an eight-year first term with the possibility of a second term of four years, if re-elected.

Coe, 67, only joined the IOC in 2020 after a rocky relationship between World Athletics and the IOC over Coe’s ban of Russian track and field athletes almost a decade ago following the country’s doping scandal.

A former Olympic champion with a wealth of experience in the sports world, Coe was previously head of the London 2012 Games and the British Olympic Association. He is also a former Conservative MP.

Coventry, 41, is the only woman running for president and the former Olympic swimming champion, who is Zimbabwe’s most decorated Olympian, could become not only the first female president but also the first from Africa.

All IOC presidents have been men, with eight of the nine from Europe and one from the US.

The 62-year-old Eliasch, head of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), only joined the IOC in July, with the Swedish-born British businessman’s candidacy a surprise for some.

Prince Feisal, 60, is a member of the IOC executive board, having joined the organisation in 2010, while Spaniard Samaranch, with considerable IOC experience in his six years as vice-president, headed the co-ordination commission for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

“The IOC and Olympic movement have made enormous strides over the past decade under the leadership of Mr Bach,” said Samaranch in a statement.

“The IOC now needs a new leader with deep experience of the Olympic movement who can help steer it through this period of upheaval.”

UCI chief Lappartient has been a rapidly rising figure within the sports world after joining the IOC in 2022.

The Frenchman also is in charge of esports within the IOC, having helped seal a 12-year deal with Saudi Arabia earlier this year for the Olympic esports Games.

Japan’s Watanabe, 65, has headed the gymnastics federation since 2016, having been re-elected twice since, and is his country’s first candidate for the IOC presidency.

Under the rules members have to step down when they reach 70, the IOC’s age limit, unless they are given a four-year extension.