KEVIN MCCALLUM: Who will be the new Lord or Lady of the Rings?
Seven candidates vying for the most powerful job in sport have made presentations for the position
31 January 2025 - 05:00
byKEVIN MCCALLUM
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The Olympic rings symbol is displayed by the Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland. Picture: Denis Balibouse
On Thursday, the seven candidates for the most powerful job in sport presented their cases for the position in Lausanne.
It is their one shot at pitching to become the next president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). And it was carried out behind closed doors at Olympic House, with no filming allowed for the 15-minute PowerPoint presentation each had to put together.
The rules are strict.
“The presentations will be given in camera and will not be broadcast or webcast on the internet. Each candidate will have 15 minutes to give their presentation. At the end of their time slot, the microphone will be switched off automatically. There will be no Q&A sessions.”
This is, apparently, to make the battle to become the heir to Thomas Bach a “fair fight”. It’s the blatant and confusing signal of the lack of transparency that bites, then sense that clearness and openness are as about as important as they were under the 20 years of Juan Antonio Samaranch’s reign.
It is, wrote Sean Ingle in the Guardian, “an election so secretive and strange it would make a Vatican cardinal wince. Under IOC rules, for instance, they are banned from holding debates, criticising each other’s policies, or even receiving public endorsements.
“One candidate is rumoured to have been so worried about falling foul of the IOC’s directive regarding the use of photographs of other people in their manifesto — ‘as this would give the perception of support’ — that they resorted to using AI images.
“None of the presentations in Lausanne will be filmed. The IOC’s rules also prohibit candidates from holding public meetings ‘of any kind’ to promote their bid or to criticise rivals. All that will be missing is the puff of white smoke.”
Some would suggest a puff of white smoke is required before the presentations, but there is no word on whether the candidates will be drug tested afterwards. Perhaps they could light up with a spare torch at Olympic House in Lausanne.
The words PowerPoint are very apt, for this is the point of power in sport, where prime ministers, businessmen and athletes come to pay their fealty and take the knee. Even Vladimir Putin is not immune to the aura of the IOC.
Donald Trump has been all giddy at the thought of the Los Angeles Games in July of 2028, though he did confuse Fifa with the IOC at his celebratory speech, but then, old small hands thinks Spain is in Brics.
Who are the candidates? Jordanian Prince Feisal Al Hussein is one. This week, he said: “Personally I wish there was more transparency and openness. If we’re looking at the most powerful job in sport, then the world should understand who the people who are running are. I would prefer that we would present and the whole world would see.”
I like him.
Seb Coe is a favourite, as is Kirsty Coventry, the Zimbabwean Olympic gold medallist and sports minister who has the backing of Bach. She would be the first African and woman to be president. David Lappartient, the French president of the Union Cycliste Internationale, has a shot, albeit an outside one.
Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, the IOC vice-president, son of the man who was IOC president between 1980 and 2001, is said to be neck and neck with Coe. Morinari Watanabe, the Japanese president of world gymnastics, and Johan Eliasch, the president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, had better have smashed it out of the park with those PowerPoint slides.
Coe has been speaking on a platform of more democracy after the 12 years in which Bach ran the IOC with an iron fist. Samaranch Jr’s dad left a complicated history behind, having taken a bankrupt IOC and made it a billion-dollar business while turning an eye to the corruption that was the primary tactic used by bidding cities.
An example, Jean-Claude Ganga from the Republic of the Congo was the man behind Africa’s boycott of the 1976 games in Montreal. Under Samaranch he became an IOC delegate. He was expunged when he took $320,000 in “gifts”.
Who will be the new Lord, or Lady, of the Rings when the vote happens in March? Will the IOC see change, or more of the same old same old. I think we know the answer.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
KEVIN MCCALLUM: Who will be the new Lord or Lady of the Rings?
Seven candidates vying for the most powerful job in sport have made presentations for the position
On Thursday, the seven candidates for the most powerful job in sport presented their cases for the position in Lausanne.
It is their one shot at pitching to become the next president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). And it was carried out behind closed doors at Olympic House, with no filming allowed for the 15-minute PowerPoint presentation each had to put together.
The rules are strict.
“The presentations will be given in camera and will not be broadcast or webcast on the internet. Each candidate will have 15 minutes to give their presentation. At the end of their time slot, the microphone will be switched off automatically. There will be no Q&A sessions.”
This is, apparently, to make the battle to become the heir to Thomas Bach a “fair fight”. It’s the blatant and confusing signal of the lack of transparency that bites, then sense that clearness and openness are as about as important as they were under the 20 years of Juan Antonio Samaranch’s reign.
It is, wrote Sean Ingle in the Guardian, “an election so secretive and strange it would make a Vatican cardinal wince. Under IOC rules, for instance, they are banned from holding debates, criticising each other’s policies, or even receiving public endorsements.
“One candidate is rumoured to have been so worried about falling foul of the IOC’s directive regarding the use of photographs of other people in their manifesto — ‘as this would give the perception of support’ — that they resorted to using AI images.
“None of the presentations in Lausanne will be filmed. The IOC’s rules also prohibit candidates from holding public meetings ‘of any kind’ to promote their bid or to criticise rivals. All that will be missing is the puff of white smoke.”
Some would suggest a puff of white smoke is required before the presentations, but there is no word on whether the candidates will be drug tested afterwards. Perhaps they could light up with a spare torch at Olympic House in Lausanne.
The words PowerPoint are very apt, for this is the point of power in sport, where prime ministers, businessmen and athletes come to pay their fealty and take the knee. Even Vladimir Putin is not immune to the aura of the IOC.
Donald Trump has been all giddy at the thought of the Los Angeles Games in July of 2028, though he did confuse Fifa with the IOC at his celebratory speech, but then, old small hands thinks Spain is in Brics.
Who are the candidates? Jordanian Prince Feisal Al Hussein is one. This week, he said: “Personally I wish there was more transparency and openness. If we’re looking at the most powerful job in sport, then the world should understand who the people who are running are. I would prefer that we would present and the whole world would see.”
I like him.
Seb Coe is a favourite, as is Kirsty Coventry, the Zimbabwean Olympic gold medallist and sports minister who has the backing of Bach. She would be the first African and woman to be president. David Lappartient, the French president of the Union Cycliste Internationale, has a shot, albeit an outside one.
Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, the IOC vice-president, son of the man who was IOC president between 1980 and 2001, is said to be neck and neck with Coe. Morinari Watanabe, the Japanese president of world gymnastics, and Johan Eliasch, the president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, had better have smashed it out of the park with those PowerPoint slides.
Coe has been speaking on a platform of more democracy after the 12 years in which Bach ran the IOC with an iron fist. Samaranch Jr’s dad left a complicated history behind, having taken a bankrupt IOC and made it a billion-dollar business while turning an eye to the corruption that was the primary tactic used by bidding cities.
An example, Jean-Claude Ganga from the Republic of the Congo was the man behind Africa’s boycott of the 1976 games in Montreal. Under Samaranch he became an IOC delegate. He was expunged when he took $320,000 in “gifts”.
Who will be the new Lord, or Lady, of the Rings when the vote happens in March? Will the IOC see change, or more of the same old same old. I think we know the answer.
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