Behind closed doors in a resort in Greece, switched off with the cameras, the members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) choose a new president at the 144th meeting of the organization on Thursday.
The winner of the seven candidates will lead the world’s largest sports organization from June, as President Thomas Bach, who has held the top job since 2013.
One of the largest elements in the new president’s to-do list seemed to be checked at the beginning of this week when the IOC announced a new US media law contract with NBC.
The deal worth 3 billion US dollars will take at least 2036 if Salt Lake City is organized by the Winter Olympics. The US rights contract is an important source of income for the IOC.
But you will have many other problems that are accessible to a younger generation from navigation of international diplomacy and conflicts, a warning climate and problems of sports integrity and the security of athletes to ensuring the Olympic Games, which are more likely to turn to Tik Tok before turning on a television.
Here is a preview of what is to be expected, who is running and why the Canadians should take care of it:
The candidates
Seven people compete for the presidency, many see Sebastian Coe, Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. and Kirsty Coventry as the three leaders.
Coe, President of the World Athletics, the four-time Olympic medalist and London 2012 organizer, has a platform that focuses on engaging young people, increasing transparency, strengthening the anti-doping system and priorizing the physical, financial and mental well-being of the athletes.
“The biggest challenge of the International Olympic Committee is no different and is not unique from a national Olympic committee, a sports organization, a private club, a private or public club: How do you continue to arouse young people and continue to deal with young people?” Coe told reporters during a short question and answer session with the media in January.
“And how use do you completely optimize the use of modern technologies?”
Coe raised the eyebrows when he announced before the Summer Olympics in Paris last year that the winners of the gold medal winner in athletics would receive a US dollar of $ 50,000. Some criticized the move as the spirit of the Olympic Games.
Coe said that he would prioritize the “financial well -being” of the athletes and make sure that “their contributions are rather rewarded”. He also promised to create programs in which athletes “receive the commercial rewards that they generate”.
Zimbabwes Coventry is only the second woman who has ever run for the IOC presidency. If she is chosen, she will also be the first president from Africa. As a swimmer, Coventry took part in five Olympic games and earned seven medals.
Some of them see them as Bach’s preferred candidates, even though Coventry played down when a reporter asked for it in January.
“We all have a very good relationship with him,” she said. “I think he is very fair to all of us at this time.”
She also emphasized transparency and modernization in her platform and was open to some of the unique challenges that African athletes faced. The continent has never organized Olympic Games, and Coventry is the most decorated Olympian from Africa.
“We have to find more opportunities to influence athletes directly and achieve income before they become Olympies,” Coventry told reporters in January.
“On my trip it was easy to get sponsorship as soon as I won a medal. It was hard that it was hard.”
When Samaranch’s name sounds known, it is because his NAMESAKE father led the IOC from 1980 to 2001. A lot has changed since his father’s presidency.
“Remember that he joined the Olympic movement more than 60 years ago,” said Samaranch of his late father.
The younger Samaranch has been a member of the IOC for more than two decades, including seven years as Vice President. This prompted a reporter to ask him in January what changes he expected as president, which he could not make in the IOC’s executive board in so many years.
He described Bach’s reign as “threats” and “complications”. Bach’s term in office included the Russia’s war against Ukraine and doping scandal as well as a global pandemic. Samaranch said that the change will have to be even faster in the future.
The rest of the field includes the international president of the ski and snowboard association, Johan Eliasch, the president of the international cycling union, David Lappartient, Jordan’s Prince Feial Al Hussein and Morinari Watanabe, who heads the International Gymnastics Association.
The Watanabe platform offers the most radical proposal of all: the games of the games in five cities over five continents at the same time to create a 24-hour global event. According to Watanabe, this would reduce the costs for the hosting and bring the five continents together.
Who gives off a vote?
The exclusive membership in the IOC, which includes former and current athletes, head of the Olympic committees and sports associations from all over the world, and even some King Frederik X from Denmark and Monacos Prince Albert II to name just two -to select the next president.
Much of this process has happened in the dark. The candidates each had 15 minutes to present members at an event in Switzerland in January, but these presentations were closed to the public and were not allowed to be shot. Candidates answered questions from the media shortly after the presentations.
The coordination by Secret voting sheet will also be done, starting at 4 p.m. local time (10 a.m.) in Greece on Thursday.
Only one Canadian is a voting member of the IOC: Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) President Tricia Smith. She told CBC Sports that the new president would play a key role in modernizing the Olympic Games, including digital transformation and youth engagement.
“This is a moment to find new ways to lean into the unique power sports that has to bring us together, which currently feels more important than ever,” said Smith in a written explanation.
As for the COC at the next president, Smith said that the IOC needs a “leader who understands and embodies the positive values of sport in order to recognize integrity, good government and sustainability, financially and ecologically and at the same time drive a safe and integrative sporting environment worldwide.”
The problems
A warning climate could be the biggest challenge with which the next president will stand, and 400 athletes from all over the world asked the candidates to set priorities in a letter published on Friday.
After devastating forest fires, Los Angeles is in the spotlight as host of the 2028 Olympics in 2028. Dealing with dealing with the often imposed US President Donald Trump. Meeting with Trump should be high on the to-do list of the next IOC president, said Samaranch of the Associated Press last week.
Lappartient now said Reuters last week that he would also meet with Trump, but would emphasize the American president that the autonomy of the IOC had to be respected.
While the one media availability in which all seven candidates were involved, many were asked about the greeting of Russia at the Olympic Games and what conditions would have to be met for this.
Eliasch said that the neutral program program, which enabled Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete after a screening process, eliminated well in the athletes who supported the war against Ukraine or the military.
Al Hussein said he would like to see the whole world at the Olympic Games.
“At the moment my understanding is the exclusion of Russian athletes on an injury to the Olympic Charter,” he said. “As President of the IOC, it is my role and my responsibility to maintain the Olympia charta, and as long as nobody violates sanctions. I would very much like to find a mechanism in which we can do it again. The world is stronger if we are all together.”
Some, like Coe, emphasized the need to protect the female category category in its platform. As a World Athletics President, his organization banned his organization of transgender athletes in 2023 and went one step further this year, which would propose changes that would expand the same rules for athletes with higher testosterone levels.
Coventry has taken a similar position. The only female candidate said reporters that the IOC had to have clear guidelines, and all athletes should feel safe on the field.
Lappartient addressed the problem due to the lens of diversity in its platform.
“It is a complex matter that needs to be treated rationally to respect the right balance between the need to respect human rights, and the obligation to ensure fair competition, do not ignore what athletes say, but our decisions must also be based on solid scientific evidence.”
Shape the future of sport
The choice can be found thousands of kilometers away and can be quite far away for people who turn on the Olympic Games every two years.
But the IOC President will influence the appearance and feeling of the Olympic Games in the next ten years, and the decisions they make could determine the future of sport in Canada and beyond.
That is why Philippe Marquis, a Canadian freestyle skier who took part in the 2014 and 2018 Olympics, was important. The next president will set the tone, he said, and decides everything who can compete on the largest stage until the Olympic Games navigate in a changing and warming climate.
“For everyone, whether they are a high -performance athlete or just a recreational athlete, I think that sport plays an important and very important place in the head of people,” said Marquis, who heads the commission of the COC athletes.
