Olympics Decision Day!

by John Cushing, March 2025

The to-do list for any new job is endless. But what should be top of the list for the new International Olympic Committee President, which is voted on later this month?

All 7 candidates are promising change, all are promising putting athletes first, all want to attract a new younger audience. Essentially whoever wins needs to ensure the Olympics is fit for purpose for another 10 years let alone 100!

The fact that candidates cannot officially meet and greet other IOC members individually, press the flesh as it were, means it's hard to gauge who’s leading - as Lord Sebastian Coe said when asked where are you in his campaign? “Who knows”.

But Seb and Juan Antonio Samaranch - son of the former Olympic president - are surely the frontrunners for the vote on March 20th in Greece.

Samaranch has said his father’s legacy is irrelevant, as the Olympics were a different ball game when he was in charge in the last century. More importantly I think was his vow to have more openness and meaningful votes on decisions and future host cities. He's right but it's something he could’ve already pushed for in the past few years - he sat with Thomas Bach on the executive board which made all the decisions! Remember Brisbane was just given the 2032 games with no real bidding process!

Seb Coe, current head of World Athletics is the first GB candidate in 60 years and the only one to have run an Organising Committee - London 2012. His pitch reminded me of those Games and the tagline ‘Inspire a Generation’. “How do you continue to excite and engage young people - it’s going to be critical. That cohort is your future. We have to create a lifelong bond for sport.” Let’s hope it’s more successful than getting people active in the UK! But you can’t argue with the legacy that London 2012 left - from Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and Team GB’s continued medal success - Seb was a huge part of that in the planning and bidding stages in 2012, and has also been chair of Team GB. He’s also a winner, double Olympic champion on the track, coming from behind to deny Paris in 2005 and becoming President of World Athletics in 2015, or the IAAF as it was then.

Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan wanted to inspire imagination, focus on integrity and inclusion. He proposed a full review of the sporting calendar - that could be massive if he could get buy-in from across the world and sports then deliver it! He also wanted to develop ever-closer ties with the IPC who run the Paralympics - which I didn’t hear anyone else talk about in presentations or questions with the media.

David Lappartient wants to “convince my colleagues I can be a leader of the IOC” which I thought showed he’s the outlier - he looked out of depth a little - despite being in charge of the UCI.

Johan Eliasch could be the first ever Winter Sports President - the Swede who now lives in the UK - is the head of the Ski Federation - but he talked a lot about his business acumen - efficacies and strategy - and I found it a little dull and uninspiring!

Kirsty Coventry should arguably be a front runner - no woman has ever led the Olympic movement and there’s never been an African host of the Games of course. The double gold medalist swimmer from Zimbabwe has been involved in IOC for a number of years and was seen by many as the candidate Thomas Bach supports - something she denied saying “he’s been fair to all“. After the controversy of the women’s boxing in Paris, I feel she missed the opportunity to further her protecting women campaign and came over a little lost.

Morinari Watanabe is in charge of World gymnastics and is the most radical of the candidates. He’s proposing a 24 hr olympics over 5 continents to save hosts money - now it is well intentioned but it's not the games is it? He also talked about forming the World Sport Organisation - being in charge of everything - don’t touch the Olympics brand - it’s one of the greatest in the world!

So the vote is on March 20th in Greece at the 144th IOC congress - I have no idea who will win. As they approach the home straight, it’s likely to be between Coe and Samaranch? His name may sit well with the IOC membership but Coe can always strike for gold!