They carry the best known surnames of the dispute for the post of tenth president of the CoSO (International Olympic Committee). Sebastian Coe, 68, and Kirsty Coventry, 41, are the only former Olympic-level athletes on the list of seven candidates to succeed Thomas Bach in the election on Thursday (20) in Greece. The two also consolidated careers like top hats.
Coe, two gold in the 1,500 my two silver in the 800 m, was the public and successful face of the London-2012 games and presides over the World Athletics, the Athletics Federation that left its old name, IAAF, and a discomfort marked by corruption. Political and media, Lord Coe argues that the IOC has “a lot of power in the hands of few people” and that the decision -making processes are “unbalanced”.
Coventry, with seven swimming Olympic medals, two of them gold, is a sports minister at Zimbabwe and chaired the COI Athletes Commission of 2018 to 2021. No wonder his campaign is led by concern for mental health and the physical recovery of the greatest sports protagonists during and after their sports careers. It is also the candidate of German Bach, 71, who does not hide her favorite by the only woman in the election.
Another surname that is confused with Olympic sport and competes among the favorites is that of Juan Antonio Samaranch, 65, the namesake son of the longest president of the IOC since Pierre de Coubertin. Controversial figure, starting with the frank past, his father put the Olympic movement on another level in the 1980s and 1990s. However, along with the professionalization of games and billionaire TV rights contracts, corruption came in choosing the games of the games, whose apex was given in the choice of Salt Lake City-2022.
Interestingly, the child does not refer to the father at any time in the 42 pages of his candidacy manifesto, even if political nods are evident. The current Vice President of CoI advocates the increase in the limit age of members from COI from 70 to 75 years, as well as their return to a more effective role in the selection of headquarters.
The Spaniard, which also has a successful financial career, proposes the creation of a $ 1 billion fund to attract investors and the committee regulates the “unambiguous distinction” of male and female modalities, euphemism for the vesper who has become the issue of transgender athletes.
They are still competing to succeed Bach David Lapportient, 51, president of UCI, who governs international cycling, and Prince Feisal Al Hussein, 61, a member of the IOC Executive Committee since 2019. French has a new edition of the Games in Africa, to achieve gender parity in the command of the IOC until 2035 and a rationalization of the committee’s work, with less commissions. and spending. The Jordanian has a campaign dedicated to the Middle East, to which he plans summer games outside the usual dates as a way to dribble the heat, as happened with the Qatar Cup in 2022.
Complete the team of seven candidates Johan Eliasch, president of the Federation of Ski and Snowboard, a staunch defender of the neutrality of the Olympic movement, and Morinari Watanabe, head of Fig, the entity that controls gymnastics on the planet and proposes simultaneous games on five continents.
In a closed -door meeting, the IOC selects the next president by simple majority of the Electoral College, made up of a little over 100 members. If it is not reached, the candidate with the worst vote is eliminated in the next scrutiny. As there are seven postulants in total, it is estimated that the choice takes a few rounds to consummate.
