The Next IOC President

[AustralianFan]

11 hours ago, BigVic said:

The Summer Olympics and Paralympics moved to the cooler months to combat climate change rather than in July/August  

 

11 hours ago, AustralianFan said:

They’re thinking about it,

but the IOC  have not yet allowed hosting outside July/August.

Watch  this space in next couple of years for a formal announcement of the relaxation of these hosting window rules 

It’s a going to take a while to get this through to have the Summer Games hosted in the cooler months and a lot of complex discussion and scheduling negotiations will have to take place and the international sportng federations, national olympic committees and broadcasters (eg NBC).

Take Olympic Football for example, the domestic competitions (eg English Premier League, Major League Soccer in USA, etc etc) and international competitions (eg World Cup, UEFA Euro, etc etc) are all going to be severely affected or disrupted by holding an Olympics in the northern hemisphere in either sprng or autumn.  But there are many other Olympic sports whose competition schedules outside the Games would be disrupted too.

This whole Olympics hosting window issue has still got a way to go before it is approved by the IOC.   It’s a big big job to get this through without some of the international sporting federations getting hysterical and so this difficult issue will land fair and square in the lap of the new IOC President.

[AustralianFan]

Times are changing.   Followng are reports of campaigning by three IOC Presidential candidates:

 

• Lord Sebastian Coe:

‘Laser-like focus’: Coe makes pitch for IOC presidency against tough field - The Guardian
 

• Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr:

IOC candidate Samaranch urges European lawmakers to invest in sport as a public health policy - AP News

 

• Morinari Watanabe:

IOC presidential candidate Watanabe seeks to make Olympics “loved” - Kyodo News

 

 

[AustralianFan]

I’m not used to seeing some of the IOC President candidates out there actually visibly campaigning.   As I said, times are changing.  For some of the 7 candidates, its harder to find campaigining examples like these.

Juan Antonio Samaranch is not holding back it seems.  Here’s an interview between him and journalist Tracey Holmes re the new Olympic E-Sports Games:

 

[AustralianFan]

3 minutes ago, AustralianFan said:

I’m not used to seeing some of the IOC President candidates out there actually visibly campaigning.   As I said, times are changing.  For some of the 7 candidates, its harder to find campaigining examples like these.

Juan Antonio Samaranch is not holding back it seems.  Here’s an interview between him and journalist Tracey Holmes re the new Olympic E-Sports Games:

 

Another part of that interview with Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr.

 

[AustralianFan]

At an Extraordinary IOC session on 30 January,  presentations to members by the candidates for IOC President will occur.  Hopefully we’ll get to see those either live or recordings.

This will be ahead of the Election of the next IOC President at the IOC Session in Greece 18-25 March.

[cfm Jeremie]

It is mentionned on Olympics.com that these presentations will be "in-camera" meaning that unfortunately we won't be able to watch them.

[AustralianFan]

So Bach will not be seeking an extension to his term as IOC President.

There has been some speculation that he would look to extend.

This confirms that he will not:

 

[cfm Jeremie]

That was announced on August 10 (see page 5 of this thread)….

[AustralianFan]

31 minutes ago, cfm Jeremie said:

That was announced on August 10 (see page 5 of this thread)….

Sorry, I missed that 🙂.

[AustralianFan]

Update from IOC Executive Board Meeting 3/12/2024 on the new IOC President Election next year:

• 30 January 2025: All 7 candidates will make in camera presentions to IOC Members (not open to the public)
• order of presentations by drawing lots
• IOC havejust published the Candidates Presentation and Voting Regulations for the new IOC President
• Election of new IOC President to take place at the 144th IOC Session in Greece from 18-21 March 2021

Full media conference covering this as follows:

 

[AustralianFan]

8 hours ago, AustralianFan said:

Update from IOC Executive Board Meeting 3/12/2024 on the new IOC President Election next year:

• 30 January 2025: All 7 candidates will make in camera presentions to IOC Members (not open to the public)
• order of presentations by drawing lots
• IOC havejust published the Candidates Presentation and Voting Regulations for the new IOC President
• Election of new IOC President to take place at the 144th IOC Session in Greece from 18-21 March 2021

Full media conference covering this as follows:

 

Correction:

Election of the new IOC President to take place at the 144th IOC Session in Greece

18-21 March 2025

[AustralianFan]

On 10/11/2024 at 6:27 PM, cfm Jeremie said:

It is mentionned on Olympics.com that these presentations will be "in-camera" meaning that unfortunately we won't be able to watch them.

Yes that’s correct a closed, in-camera session.

Surprisingly, even IOC staff outside the room will be able to watch the 7 candidate speeches according to Mark Adams, IOC Communications Director on 3 December 2024 at the IOC EB Day One media conference.

Further, Mark advised that each candidate will deliver just one speech each and there will be no questions following each one.

Venue for 144th IOC Session, 18-21 March 2025

The venue for the IOC Session inclduing the Presidental Election is confirmed to be Costa Navarino, Greece.

Googlemaps link:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/X8dmc4XFwhkTCdRQ8?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

[Sir Rols]

Pity ITG gave up on any sort of investigative reporting. At least we have The Inqisitor to fill the gap. Nice piece here detailing what’s going on behind closed doors:

IOC presidential alert: Lord Coe's trip to India and the fight against the unholy alliance of Ambani & Bach and their lapdog Kirsty Coventry

[AustralianFan]

Latest Odds for new IOC President

I’m not a betting man but this has been quite revealing to look at the odds that different betting agencies currently have for who will succeed Thomas Bach next year.

This is from Gambling911.com”

“Sebastian Coe, a two-time gold medalist in track and field, has been installed as a heavy favorite:

• Sebastian Coe                           3/2
• Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr.    4/1
• David Lappartient                     5/1
• Kirsty Coventry                         6/1
• Morinari Watanabe                   6/1
• Prince Feisal Al Hussein           6/1
• Johan Eliasch                            8/1

**************************************

Profiles and photos of all seven Candidates from Sports Business Journal are:

[Sir Rols]

Speaking of The Inquisitor, Jens has run his ruler over the candidates (and given us a Bid Inde!):

IOC Presidential Index (II), what Thomas Bach and his servants want to prevent: ranking and aptitude test

 

[Sir Rols]

Couple of things I found encouraging in that piece: IOC presidential alert: Lord Coe's trip to India and the fight against the unholy alliance of Ambani & Bach and their lapdog Kirsty Coventry

Firstly, the notion that apparently Kirsty’s not making much headway in getting support:

As has been known for a long time and is becoming increasingly clear, Coventry has neither the support of all Africans nor of all women on the IOC, who, after all, make up 40 percent of the membership.

And, perhaps related, that Bach’s influence is waning fast:

There are increasing signs that Bach is rapidly losing influence. From all directions – America, Africa, Asia and Europe – you can hear stories of how once-loyal followers are breaking away and suddenly looking at things quite differently.

[yoshi]

Interesting. I guess that means Seb is favourite then? I don't have a subscription so I can't read the article. Do we actually know what the plans are of any of the candidates, beyond that Kirsty will simply be a continuity candidate at best & a simple Bach puppet at worst?

[Sir Rols]

5 minutes ago, yoshi said:

Interesting. I guess that means Seb is favourite then? I don't have a subscription so I can't read the article. Do we actually know what the plans are of any of the candidates, beyond that Kirsty will simply be a continuity candidate at best & a simple Bach puppet at worst?

There’s the odd statements around - ITG did a pretty bland round up of each of the candidates.  Hence why I’m glad the Inquisitor is doing a bit more analytics and investigating in the absence of the “old” ITG.

That said, and speaking of ITG (sorry), they did report on some statements of Watanabe that I found appealing and encouraging:

Watanabe: "The IOC Executive Board is too strong"

Watanabe’s also the one who told Bach to his face that he shouldn’t extend his term. I doubt Watanabe has much chance, but I’ve got a bit of respect for him now.

[Sir Rols]

And onto Juan Antonio Jr

His main proposals so far have been to move the summer games to the winter months:

Samaranch proposes winter Games for extreme heat nations

… and for the IOC to prioritise “neutrality”… and welcome Russia back”immediately”:

Samaranch says IOC must 'work hard' to reinstate Russia

[yoshi]

So in other words, give the next couple of games to Saudi & Russia...we don't need another FIFA 

[cfm Jeremie]

To be fair, changing the “July-August” time window, would not only allow middle-East bid but also to quite a few Southern hemisphere countries (including part of Australia).

[Roger87]

Interesting change of pace over this race. 

Somehow I don't discount Watanabe at all after this. Sometimes in heavy races like this, the longshot may become dark horse when the heat among the heads are extreme. 

[yoshi]

Does the whole IOC get to vote or only the executive board? If it's everyone, I'd have thought a message of "I will take the power the executive board stole from you & give it back to you" would really resonate among more active members especially. 

[cfm Jeremie]

It is the whole membership voting.

[StefanMUC]

7 hours ago, Sir Rols said:

 

… and for the IOC to prioritise “neutrality”… and welcome Russia back”immediately”:

Samaranch says IOC must 'work hard' to reinstate Russia

Junior doing Samaranch things…just remember where Daddy served as ambassador (hint: same place where he was voted IOC President).