The question and answer session at the end of the first day of the IOC session became an almost one-hour Eloge on Thomas Bach’s legacy, the members of which the members vote on Thursday afternoon (start: 3:00 p.m.). First Bach was elected honorary president for life, then he was compared to Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi. Who should follow?
IOC sessions are not necessarily known for controversy debates. The IOC members, who have gathered in Romanos on the Greek Peloponnes peninsula, seem to have little interest in these days that this changes. Instead, you celebrate yourself, the Olympic history and of course the outgoing president Thomas Bach. Everything as always.
Everything is actually different, because on Thursday the members choose a new president – or a new president, it would be the first. But the election campaign, which is in its hottest phase, still does not take place in public. This is ensured by so-called “directives”, which the IOC Ethics Committee published last summer and who are more or less prohibited from exchanging the public. So Bach’s successor in the back rooms of Greece clarifies.
“New times need new leaders”
Kirsty Coventry, former swimming Olympic champion and member of the Executive Committee, in which the most important decisions of the IOC are made, is considered a Bach -based protege – although this is published in public – at least at first glance.
At a press conference on Monday, Bach replied to the question of a British journalist whether he was not making a lot of dementia among the members for a choice of Coventry. But that “new times will need new leaders”. Whether the “NEW” label for Coventry’s worst competitors, the two Sebastian Coe, long-time president of the World Athletics Association, or the son of a former IOC President, Juan Antonio Samaranch Junior, still applies?
Coe seems cut
Coe, who, due to his story as a two -time Olympic champion and chief of the London Games in 2012, was given good chances, seems to be falling behind. Even as President of World Athletics, he was repeatedly sprinkled with controversial ideas compared to his counterparts, such as a premium for the Olympic champion or the consistent exclusion of Russian athletes.
If you choose him as an IOC president, he wants to establish a lively culture of debate in which the members would get more say. A counter-draft to Bach, whose IOC is a one-man show. But Coe’s idea that the members could get involved with a change of course does not seem to be fruitful. When asked by a reporter, how he feels in the face of the upcoming choice, Coe reacted unusually flattering and less presidency on Wednesday: “I’m still there.” It sounded like resignation.
The IOC also presented its exorbitant income on Wednesday, almost eight billion dollars in the past Olympics. It is also taken for the next few years: a 3 billion heavy deal with the US media giant Comcast NBC was announced only a week ago. Some observers want to see Bach’s provision for a possible election victory Coventrys, which, in contrast to Coe or Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr.
Samaranch makes you well
In contrast to his opponents, the latter seems almost calm. While Coe moves on immediately, Kirsty Coventry also donates a half -hearted slogan: “I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Now my ambition is coming through as an athlete.” Only Samaranch seems to be really comfortable in the spotlight. He doesn’t see himself as a favorite, he says, while confidently chatting with the journalists. The fact that this role is suggested to him shows how much the Spaniard has pushed forward in the race.
But Samaranch has the problem of showing a little unique profile. He needs the voices of the old guard and the international associations, those members who have been in the IOC for a long time. In addition to Samaranch, they have a whole battery of candidates who would represent their interests.
Coventry does not have this problem as the first woman in the history of the IOC, who at all apply to the presidency. In addition, she is the youngest in the candidate field, it is supposed to represent the “new” generation of almost 70 members who came to the organization in Bach’s term. Among them there are fewer old rope teams to the other candidates and some of them showed on Wednesday that they know who paved their way to the organization. Again and again, the composition and cultural progress that Bach promoted in the IOC were conjured up in the speeches.
Calculation games with Coventry and Samaranch
The election procedure is simple. Has won who receives over 50 percent of the vote. When nobody achieves this in the first ballot, the candidate is leaving with the fewest voices and the whole thing begins from the front.
If the number of members who continue to support it is not enough to give Coventry the necessary absolute majority early, it could still be tight for them. Samaranch would probably have greater chances in a decimated field to collect voices for those who are left out who resemble his profile. The more electoral courses, the more likely a victory of the Spaniard – and a defeat of Coventry. Bach himself hardly suffered any within the IOC during his tenure, and he made the organization too much in twelve years.
Before this decides on Thursday afternoon, Bach became a sentimental at the speaker at the end of the day – he looks forward to calm hours and well -deserved sleep. But whoever would inherit him can always reach him and ask for advice. Did he have someone in mind there?