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Lord Sebastian Coe has thrown his hat into the ring to be the next president of the International Olympic Committee, but the British former middle-distance runner faces competition from the son of a former Olympic president, a champion swimmer and a Jordanian prince.
The next IOC president will lead an organisation riding high after the Paris Games, which attracted record audiences and helped the Olympics bounce back from two editions of the Games held under tight Covid-19 restrictions. The Olympics’ governing body is also competing with other sports to attract younger viewers and boost sponsorship.
The seven-person shortlist to replace outgoing president Thomas Bach next spring includes Spaniard Juan Antonio Samaranch, whose father of the same name led the IOC for more than two decades. The younger Samaranch, 64, has been an IOC member since 2001, but has a background in finance.
Kirsty Coventry, the former Olympic swimmer and current sports minister for Zimbabwe, is also seen as a strong contender and could become the first woman to lead the IOC. The 41-year-old won a gold medal in the 200-metre backstroke in Athens in 2004, and is the youngest candidate.
The IOC’s rule book could complicate Coe’s bid for the presidency. The former British MP, who chaired the London Olympics in 2012, turns 68 this month, making him the oldest person in the field. IOC rules have an age limit of 70, although members can seek a four-year extension. He is also due to step down from his current role as president of World Athletics in 2027, at which point he would cease to be an IOC member.
IOC presidential terms last eight years, with the option of an additional four years.
Coe, who won Olympic gold medals in the 1,500 metres at the 1980 and 1984 Games, came under fire in the run-up to Paris after World Athletics broke with tradition to offer prize money to Olympic champions.
Alongside Coe, three of the other applicants lead global sporting bodies: David Lappartient, the French head of the International Cycling Union; Japan’s Morinari Watanabe, president of the International Gymnastics Federation; and Johan Eliasch, the Swedish-British president of the International Ski Federation, who only became an IOC member last month.
Jordanian Prince Feisal al-Hussein, brother of King Abdullah, completes the shortlist. The seven candidates will present their manifestos to members at IOC headquarters in Lausanne in January, before a vote in Greece in March.
Under Bach, the IOC has had to navigate geopolitical challenges, particularly since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The IOC opted not to institute an blanket ban on Russian athletes in Paris, instead leaving the decision to individual sports federations.
Like most major sporting organisations, the IOC is also grappling with a rapidly changing media and entertainment sector. One of the priorities for its next leader will be making sure that the Olympics can find ways to stay relevant with younger viewers and keep global sponsors onside.
Some IOC members had called on Bach to stay on as president when his term expires next year, but an extension for the 70-year-old would have required a change in the body’s rule book. However, the German former Olympic fencing champion said shortly after the conclusion of the Paris Games in August that he would step down as planned.