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The Next IOC President


Nemo

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Sometimes these boards make me feel like I'm in the twilight zone.

Why is it so complicated that Bach was the favorite over a year ago? Who cares who declared when? Nobody ever thought he'd be the only candidate and so far all of the contenders who were predicted months ago have jumped into the race. I just don't see why this is an issue for you.

Because being a FAVORITE when you're the ONLY candidate is an oxymoron. When Stalin, Khruschev, Castro, Mao Zedong, etc., ran...OF COURSE they were the favorites since they were the ONLY ones on the ballot! That's why. Obviously, u don't get it.

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I will have to back up Athensfan on the "favourite" argument. Bach's been long talked about as the favourite (going back even more than a year), both in the media and in the discussions here on the board. And most of the others who have put there name in - Ser Ng Miang, Carrion, Owsald - have also been long expected, in reporting over the past few years, to throw their names in. About the only recent surprises have been Wu and Bubka. And the fact El Moutawakel hasn't put her name in (though that's still possible).

Just did a search - way back in 2009 we were referring to media stories mentioning Bach as the likely successor to Rogge: (Who will be the one after Rogge), and here's insidethegames in 2010 talking up Bach's chances this year: Bach confirms plan to stand again for IOC vice-president

And a correction - Bubka was also being mentioned a lot about making a bid for the top job back in 2009 (see the GamesBids thread linked to above).

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Exactly, Sir Rols. And to emphasise that: Bach was (technically speaking) the "only candidate" (i.e., the only officially declared candidate) only for a few days, namely until Ser Ng Miang declared.

Before he officially declared his own candidacy, Bach was one of many possible candidates - among whom he was deemed the favourite.

Got it now, Baron? ;)

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IDK - but how can we be so sure that Avery Brundage wasn't part of the reason for Detroit's multiple losses. It's so strange cuz that was the city he was born in, too. Squaw Valley & Denver seem to be irrelevant since those were winter bids. Not to mention that out of the competition for 1960, only Innsbruck was the real competitor, since both St. Moritz & G-P had already hosted & Karachi wasn't going to get it.

And once Denver & Montreal got both sets of Games for 1976, Detroit had already threw in the towel. Even Los Angeles didn't benefit in that scenario. So I think the multiple failed U.S. summer bids (the more coveted Olympic prize) speaks much more than the two winter U.S. bids that were won under his tenure. No country that has had a president in office post WWII has hosted a Summer Olympics other than Spain. And that was mainly bcuz of JAS' interventions. So in Munich's case it may not matter anyway since that is a winter bid, TBW.

If you have proof that Brundage's origin really kept IOC members from voting for the respective US bid cities, then OK. But it appears pretty speculative to me that those bid cities lost because of Brundage. In my view, it was no factor for Detroit's streak of defeats because Detroit never was an attractive potential Olympic host city to begin with. I mean, it's Detroit!

And regarding your statement "No country that has had a president in office post WWII has hosted a Summer Olympics other than Spain.". Well, that's easy to say because there have been only a handful of Summer Olympic bids from the respective IOC president's country in modern Olympic history:

During Sigfrid Edström's tenure, in 1947, Stockholm lost the vote for the 1952 Summer Games (getting nil votes, by the way).

During Avery Brundage's tenure, Detroit lost the 1960, 1964, 1968 and 1972 Games (in 1955, 1959, 1963 and 1966). But as I said, that was probably rather a Detroit problem than a Brundage problem.

And Los Angeles, as you already mentioned, lost the 1976 Games in 1970. But that could as well be attributed to an intention of the IOC to go to new places (in this case, Canada) - plus: Jean Drapeau was a very influential campaigner who secured Montreal's victory. And Los Angeles also lost the 1980 Games after Brundage's term - so that probably indicates that the IOC rather wanted to go to new places than choosing a former host city for the 1976 and 1980 Games.

And actually, Barcelona isn't the only summer host city that got the Games during the tenure of an IOC President from the country. In 1895, Pierre de Coubertin wasn't the President yet - but he was the secret boss of IOC already back then. And he personally proposed in 1895 that Paris should host the 1900 Games - which was adopted by his fellow IOC members.

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I agree with the above, but I think the Cold War also had a huge impact on some of those votes. It wasn't just about "new places." It was also about not upsetting the balance of superpowers. Who knows? Maybe that even played into Detroit. It definitely played into '76 - '84.

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Exactly, Sir Rols. And to emphasise that: Bach was (technically speaking) the "only candidate" (i.e., the only officially declared candidate) only for a few days, namely until Ser Ng Miang declared.

Before he officially declared his own candidacy, Bach was one of many possible candidates - among whom he was deemed the favourite.

Got it now, Baron? ;)

Have u got it? You don't seem to have gotten it.

. I mean, it's Detroit!

Until the 1967 riot in Detroit, it was actually a pretty, well-ordered city. Even when I visited in 1968, and we stayed at some upscale suburb. Detroit still seemed to be a fairly well-ordered city. After those bidding days, and when the imports were doing much better, and it started to be called part of the Rust Belt, did Detroit lose its luster. But they could've put on a grand Games as grand as a Nagoya, Stuttgart or even Moscow could put on.

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If you have proof that Brundage's origin really kept IOC members from voting for the respective US bid cities, then OK. But it appears pretty speculative to me that those bid cities lost because of Brundage. In my view, it was no factor for Detroit's streak of defeats because Detroit never was an attractive potential Olympic host city to begin with. I mean, it's Detroit!

During Avery Brundage's tenure, Detroit lost the 1960, 1964, 1968 and 1972 Games (in 1955, 1959, 1963 and 1966). But as I said, that was probably rather a Detroit problem than a Brundage problem.

And Los Angeles, as you already mentioned, lost the 1976 Games in 1970. But that could as well be attributed to an intention of the IOC to go to new places (in this case, Canada) - plus: Jean Drapeau was a very influential campaigner who secured Montreal's victory. And Los Angeles also lost the 1980 Games after Brundage's term - so that probably indicates that the IOC rather wanted to go to new places than choosing a former host city for the 1976 and 1980 Games.

And actually, Barcelona isn't the only summer host city that got the Games during the tenure of an IOC President from the country. In 1895, Pierre de Coubertin wasn't the President yet - but he was the secret boss of IOC already back then. And he personally proposed in 1895 that Paris should host the 1900 Games - which was adopted by his fellow IOC members.

Do you have "proof" that it didn't? Everything about these things is "speculative" & hypothetical, so it doesn't make anyone one right or wrong here on these things bcuz there's no 'proof' of anything. Besides, I'm not saying that was the reason, other than saying how can anyone say that it may have not played a role since we don't really know either way.

And Detroit back then was a progressive city on the up & up (much like Atlanta in the late '80's), with the very lucrative automotive & music industry back in it's day. Do you really think that the USOC would've chosen & city over & over again as it's candidate if Detroit back then was the decrepit Detroit of today? The Detroit of yesterday & today is as different as night & day.

And I can't see that the IOC chose Montreal bcuz they wanted to go to 'new places', rather than they just wanted to remain neutral in a race that involved the two worlds Superpowers that wanted to outdo each other at every whim at the time. They could've chosen Moscow for 1976 & still gotten new. And I said post World War II, I wasn't talking about the Courtebin era, when back then the president at the time was chosen from the country where the next Games were to be held anyway.

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I just wanted to point out that there's no proof for the pretty common assumption here on this board that an IOC President can be harmful to an Olympic bid from the same country. Nothing more, nothing less. And even if I have no proof for that either, I'm very certain that a Bach presidency won't be harmfol to a German bid for either the 2022 Winter Games or any later edition of the Olympic Games (summer or winter).

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Have u got it? You don't seem to have gotten it.

Well, I'm apparently not the only one here, as you can see in the posts above. You seem to assume that Bach was the only name in the race for months and months, which is clearly not true - none of the names that are popping up (including Bach's) were official candidates until only a few weeks ago. But there were always speculation about many different names (including Bach's) for months and even years before the official declarations by the candidates. Or is this now just a silly case of tit-for-tat? Come on, Baron, you should be more mature than that.

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I even made fun of Bach's front-runner status in the GamesBids logo comp award presentation at the start of 2012.

I hope the German members here don't get offended if/when I have to "svitch to an Cherman accent ven ve haff ze next logo contest"

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I even made fun of Bach's front-runner status in the GamesBids logo comp award presentation at the start of 2012.

I hope the German members here don't get offended if/when I have to "svitch to an Cherman accent ven ve haff ze next logo contest"

Yes, I do. ;)

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I never said that a Bach presidency would hinder a Munich bid. On the contrary, I went on to say since Munich would be bidding for a winter games (much like Squaw Valley & Denver did during Brundage), that it most likely wouldn't be an issue, since those games aren't as coveted & as highly regarded as the Summer Olympics.

But it is bewildering, to say the least, that when there was a compelling summer project on offer from a prosperous city at the time, like Detroit's was, with a huge, for its time, 110,000-seat proposed stadium & even backed by the then president JFK, why it kept failing. It was the London 2012 plan of it's time. There must've been some sort of internal politics working against them.

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Well, maybe because Detroit (even despite its prosperity and its role as important automobile city) wasn't the big name internationally? I mean, even despite Atlanta's economic power, it came as surprise to many people internationally that it won.

And back in the 1960s economic power probably wasn't as much a factor for the host city elections as it was in the 1980s (especially the Montreal 1976 financial disaster must have played a role for that shift of perception) and especially not as it is today.



Also sustainability and legacy (as in London's case) didn't play as much a role as today.

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Well, maybe because Detroit (even despite its prosperity and its role as important automobile city) wasn't the big name internationally? I mean, even despite Atlanta's economic power, it came as surprise to many people internationally that it won.

Also sustainability and legacy (as in London's case) didn't play as much a role as today.

Detroit was actually more globally well-known back then (probably moreso than Atlanta was in the late '80's) bcuz of the Big Three U.S. automakers. Especially since the Asian automakers didn't to start take off 'til the late '80's/early '90's to start chipping away at American car sales globally.

Detroit was also the fifth largest city in the country at the time as well. And besides, it's not like Mexico City, Buenos Aires & especially Lyon, were beacons of top, global name recognition for 1968, which was probably Detroit's best shot.

And even if sustainability & legacy weren't big factors back then as you say, Detroit's plan was still very impressive, even the most jaded would've gotten intrigued as to what they were proposing, which was very exciting for it's time.

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I actually think Detroit would have made more sense in the narrative of America's Olympic history than Atlanta did. In fact, even if detroit hosted 1968 or 1972, the city still would have crumbled soon after, and I'm sure there would be crumbling former Olympic venues there today, sparking a great deal of interest. A Detroit Olympics would have also happened at a time when a US city could still get away with using public funds to build extravagant venues, so its legacy today would have no doubt been an intriguing foreshadow of Montreal's woes a few years later (if they hosted 1976), and the crumbling legacy of Sarajevo and Athens.

When I speculate on alternative Olympic history, Detroit in the 60's has always struck me as the most imaginable, and believable.

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Detroit was actually more globally well-known back then (probably moreso than Atlanta was in the late '80's) bcuz of the Big Three U.S. automakers. Especially since the Asian automakers didn't to start take off 'til the late '80's/early '90's to start chipping away at American car sales globally.

Detroit was also the fifth largest city in the country at the time as well. And besides, it's not like Mexico City, Buenos Aires & especially Lyon, were beacons of top, global name recognition for 1968, which was probably Detroit's best shot.

Hmmm... I wouldn't second what you said about Mexico City and Buenos Aires - those are very world-famous cities and they offered the IOC the chance to "try" a new country. I think it wasn't totally unimportant for the IOC already back then to move the Olympic Games around as many countries in the world as possible. It could also have been Detroit's disadvantage in that regard that the US had just hosted the 1960 Winter Games.

And also your description focusses strongly on Detroit's economical importance and its sheer size back then - but those probably weren't the deciding factors back then. Judging by German publications I've seen or read from the 1950s and 1960s, Detroit never was mentioned as one of THE American city to go to. Instead, especially New York, Chicago and San Francisco were mentioned as the epitome of an American city and also of a tourist destination. I suppose that that was Detroit's problem also in other countries in the world - already back then, when it still was a prosperous and clean city: That it lacked international sex appeal, so to speak. And I suppose not many people outside the US knew back then that Detroit was the fifth-largest city in the US. But hey, today Houston and Philadelphia are the fourth- and fifth-largest ones - and nevertheless, internationally, they don't spring to mind if it comes to potential US Olympic host cities.

Correction: "as one of THE American cities to go to"

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^Not that I'm disagreeing with you here on Detroit's image back then, & while yes, Mexico City & Buenos Aires are very important cities, Detroit still managed to get many more votes than Buenos Aires did for 1968. And Detriot also got 2nd-place finish for 1964 ahead of Vienna & Brussels.

But this is where the whole question of Avery Brundage comes into play. What you're describing is the general approach of the IOC on how they chose their host cities. But what I mean is who, especially outside Europe, ever heard of Barcelona before 1984 as 'one of the go-to cities in Europe'? A run-down, industrial city that wasn't on everybody's radar back then. But JAS came up to bat for his Hometown in the mid-'80's, & voila, the world was gonna have Barcelona 1992!

Yet, in contrast, you had a properous & promising large U.S. city at the time, with a very nice project to sell & had very strong backing from local & state government (& even getting PR from president JFK) & that also happened to be the birth city of the then IOC president. So what gives? I just find it very intriguing to say the least. The only thing I can think of is, perhaps the U.S.' previous hostings, like you mentioned. But I don't think that would've been an insurmountable challenge had perhaps the bid had more support within the IOC itself i.e. Avery , like JAS did, especially with all the good qualities the Detroit bid had going for them at the time.

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Six candidates to run for IOC presidency

07/06/2013

Six candidates will compete in the election for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the 125th IOC Session on 10 September 2013 in Buenos Aires.

The six – Thomas Bach, Sergey Bubka, Richard Carrión, Ser Miang Ng, Denis Oswald, and Ching-Kuo Wu – officially announced their candidacies by the deadline of midnight on 6 June.

The candidates will present their programmes, in camera, to the full IOC membership on the occasion of the Extraordinary IOC Session in Lausanne on 3 and 4 July 2013.

IOC

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  • 4 weeks later...

6 IOC presidential candidates make their pitches

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — One by one, the six candidates took their turn at the podium, trying to drum up support in their bid for the most powerful job in international sports.

With just over two months before the election, the race to become the next International Olympic Committee president came into sharp focus Thursday with the contenders taking their case directly to the voters.

The candidates each made 15-minute presentations to the general assembly, the first time such campaign speeches have been held in an IOC presidential race.

IOC President Jacques Rogge is leaving after 12 years in office. His successor will be elected by secret ballot on Sept. 10 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

With more than 80 IOC members in the hall, Thursday's presentations were made behind closed doors and no questions were allowed.

When it was over, the most visibly emotional candidate was Richard Carrion of Puerto Rico, whose eyes welled up as he talked about the experience.

"I said everything that was in my heart," he said, nearly choking up. "This was a chat with my colleagues. It was extremely emotional, extremely moving for me."

Also speaking were IOC Vice Presidents Thomas Bach of Germany and Ng Ser Miang of Singapore, executive board members Sergei Bubka of Ukraine and C.K. Wu of Taiwan, and former board member Denis Oswald of Switzerland.

Members said Carrion made a powerful impact and that Bach, long considered the front-runner, also put in a strong performance.

Canadian IOC member Dick Pound said the presentations will help members make up their minds.

"It tends to confirm a rough order," he said. "You think, 'How would this person look standing up in front of the world representing the organization?' It's a helpful exercise. It's far better than, 'Let's have a coffee.' This is a kind of a platform."

Carrion gave his speech without notes or PowerPoint presentation.

"I'd be lying to you if I said I didn't practice it two or three time," he said. "But I knew what I wanted to say. The gods were favorable today. It felt good. I had said it 20 times, and it just came out. I think they liked it. I liked the reaction."

The 60-year-old Carrion is chairman of the finance commission, and he negotiated the record $4.38 billion U.S. TV rights deal with NBC through 2020.

"The world is changing very quickly," he said. "People are marching in the streets demanding transparency and accountability. We are in a very, very good spot right now, but it would be foolish to think that we are immune or exempt from all that is going on in the world."

While Carrion has earned a reputation as the IOC's financial czar, he said money is not the most important issue for the next president.

"We are an organization that is based on values and strong emotions," he said. "The minute we forget that, then we're lost."

Bach, a 59-year-old German lawyer and former Olympic fencing gold medalist, has served at the top levels of the IOC for years. He leads most of the IOC's investigations into doping cases and heads the German Olympic Sports Confederation.

"I enjoyed the experience," Bach said after the presentation. "I was looking forward to it with excitement, like in a sports competition when you finally enter the stage and you can perform. It's not up to me to grade the performance but I have a good feeling."

One of the issues singled out by Bach was the fight against doping.

"We have to make clear the ultimate goal is protecting the clean athletes," he said. "Catching the cheats or exposing noncompliance (with the World Anti-Doping Code) is only a means to achieve this ultimate goal. We have to invest more in scientific research and the tests have to be even more targeted than now."

Ng, a 64-year-old diplomat and businessman, chaired the organizing committee for the inaugural Youth Olympics in Singapore in 2010 and is viewed as a strong contender from Asia.

"I feel good about my presentation," he said. "I talked about the need to protect the integrity, the need for independence. I was able to share my views on the future, in particular the Youth Games, and putting youth at the middle of the Olympic movement."

Oswald, a 66-year-old lawyer and president of the international rowing federation, headed the IOC coordination commissions for the Athens and London Olympics. He said Thursday's presentation was a new challenge.

"You are judged," he said. "You are not so much judged when you present a report about coordination commissions. You felt it was important, it was our only opportunity to address our members. I would have hoped it would be open to the public and to the journalists, but it was not our decision."

Wu, head of the international amateur boxing association, said, if elected, he would propose that all six candidates meet and put their proposals together into a "master plan."

Bubka, the former pole vault champion from Ukraine, is by far the youngest candidate at 49. He proposes the creation of several councils that would help advise the IOC on key issues.

AP

http://www.chron.com/sports/article/6-IOC-presidential-candidates-make-their-pitches-4647047.php

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IOC Candidate Bubka Calls for Olympic Cost-Cutting

MOSCOW, July 5 (R-Sport) - The soaring costs of hosting the Olympic Games could be in for a trim if Ukrainian pole vault legend Sergei Bubka is elected president of the International Olympic Committee, he told R-Sport on Friday.

Next year is to see the most expensive Olympics in history, with an estimated $46 billion ploughed into the Winter Games in the Russian city of Sochi, surpassing Beijing 2008, which reportedly cost up to $44 billion.

World record holder Bubka is one of six candidates for president, all of whom gave campaign speeches at a closed session of the IOC on Thursday.

The IOC should “continue to look for balance in expenditure on hosting the Olympic Games,” Bubka said.

“Clear planning, correct management of the legacy left over from the Games, using existing facilities, and also the experience organizers have received - those are very important factors in the success of our job.”

Both the Sochi and Beijing Olympic preparations involved building almost all the facilities from scratch, while the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver kept costs down to just $1.3 billion, largely thanks to using existing arenas.

Bubka said he would also focus on the fight against doping, if elected, which he called “the most serious challenge facing the Olympic movement in the 21st century,” citing current president Jacques Rogge.

The Ukrainian’s other major campaign promise was to work with bookmakers and governments to prevent Olympic results being rigged.

The other candidates for September’s vote in Buenos Aires are two IOC vice presidents, Thomas Bach and Ng Ser Miang, as well as boxing chief C.K. Wu, rowing’s Denis Oswald and IOC finance committee head Richard Carrion.

http://en.ria.ru/sports/20130705/182078672/IOC-Candidate-Bubka-Calls-For-Olympic-Cost-Cutting.html

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