The candidates to succeed Thomas Bach as president of the International Olympic Committee and become the most powerful figure in sport governance will present their vision for the future to their fellow IOC members on Thursday.
Bach was first elected to an initial eight-year term in 2013, succeeding Belgian Jacques Rogge, and was re-elected for four years in 2021.
The 70-year-old German announced shortly before the end of the Paris Olympics in August he would not seek a third term, declaring: “New times are calling for new leaders.”
The election itself is at the IOC session in Greece on March 18-21.
AFP Sports profiles the contenders:
Sebastian Coe (GBR)
The charismatic Englishman will hope his Midas-like touch that has brought him success on and off the athletics track delivers the ultimate prize in sports governance.
With an element of Peter Pan about him -- his youthful looks belie his 68 years -- he is a two-time 1500 metres Olympic gold medallist and ran both the successful bid for the 2012 London Olympics and the hosting of them.
Since he was elected World Athletics president in 2015 Coe has reformed the body after the troubled reign of his predecessor Lamine Diack, convicted for his involvement in a cover-up of Russian doping.
He has shown strong leadership in imposing a blanket ban on Russian athletes in the Paris Games due to the invasion of Ukraine.
However, his introduction of prize money for Olympic champions in athletics was not universally welcomed by parts of the Olympic Movement.
He has made protecting women’s sport the centrepiece of his programme following the gender eligibility row at the Paris Games.
“If we do not protect women’s sport and we don’t have a clear and unambiguous set of policies to do that, then we run the risk of losing women’s sport,” he told AFP in November.
David Lappartient (FRA)
The ambitious Frenchman may have only been an IOC member since 2022 but he possesses an impressive CV.
He has had a successful tenure since being first elected in 2017 as president of the International Cycling Union.
The centre-right lawmaker also produced results with his political nous and powers of persuasion, securing the 2030 Winter Olympics for the Alps.
He is a proponent of bringing Russia back in from the cold.
“They are destined to naturally regain a place in the world of sport,” he told AFP.
Juan Antonio Samaranch Junior (ESP)
The 64-year-old, son of the man who as IOC president from 1980-2001 transformed it into a commercial powerhouse, is a big player within the movement.
Samaranch Junior is a former perfume salesman and banker who is in his second stint as an IOC Vice-President.
Media savvy and an excellent communicator, he has been on the coordinating committees for three Winter Olympics, serving as chair for the 2022 Beijing Games.
So after over two decades within the IOC, what can he promise the 100-plus members and the outside world he would bring to the presidency?
“Experience, perspective, judgement and collaboration,” he told AFP.
Kirsty Coventry (ZIM)
Coventry bids to become not only the first woman but also the first person from Africa to head the IOC and at 41 would be the youngest.
She has an impressive Olympic record with seven swimming medals, including two golds with the then-Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe describing her as “golden girl” in 2008.
She has forged a successful career in sports administration since retiring from the pool in 2016, becoming Zimbabwe’s sports minister in 2019.
Coventry has been an IOC member since 2013 and she has chaired the IOC Athlete’s Commission, as well as serving on the IOC Executive Board since 2018.
She heads the Coordination Commission for the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane.
She said if she were elected: “For Africa, it would open up, I think, many opportunities for different leadership roles to say, right, as Africa we’re ready.
“We’re ready to lead. We’re capable of leading. We have the support. Let’s go. Let’s do it.”
Prince Feisal Al-Hussein (JOR)
Younger brother of Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Prince Feisal is bidding to become the first Asian president of the IOC. He set up Generations For Peace, a non-profit peace-building organisation using sporting programmes in 2007.
Three years later the 60-year-old former military helicopter pilot was elected an IOC member, is a member of the Executive Board and has chaired a couple of committees.
Morinari Watanabe (JPN)
He has already broken the mould in being the first Asian president of the gymnastics federation.
Watanabe, 65, the son of a Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor, is proposing to host the Games simultaneously in five cities across five continents in a bid to reduce costs and let the whole world share Olympic fever.
“I give the first time some crazy idea, but I think young people have more ideas. My job is to open the door,” he told AFP.
Johan Eliasch (SWE/GBR)
The Sweden-born billionaire businessman and environmentalist has been international ski federation president since 2021.
The 62-year-old has only been an IOC member since July, but says he has the skillset to take the movement forward.
“I have been an adviser to governments on protecting the environment and taking action on climate change,” he told AFP.
“I have been very involved in technology, I have run a major company. I run the biggest winter sports federation, which provides 55 percent of all events in the Winter Games.
“If they are looking for somebody with a lot of experience and expertise, I am your man.”
