For a while, it looked like the head of the International Olympic Committee for more than a decade might remain in office.
But IOC President Thomas Bach announced shortly before the close of the 2024 Summer Games in Paris that he would step down next year after reaching the end of his second and final term under the Olympic Charter, which allows for eight years in office that can be followed by another four years.
That means there will be a new IOC president elected in 2025, as Utah begins preparations to host another Winter Games in 2034. Contenders reportedly include Spain’s Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., whose father headed the IOC when Salt Lake City bid for the 2002 Winter Games.
Samaranch Sr., who ran the IOC for 21 years, was succeeded by Jacques Rogge in 2001. It was Rogge who presided over Utah’s last Olympics, declaring them “superb.” The next IOC member elected to the presidency of the Switzerland-based organization may well still be in office a decade from now.
Bach, a German lawyer and Olympic fencer who took over from Rogge in 2013, helped draft the term limits in the charter as part of a series of reforms instituted in the 1990s after the international bribery scandal involving Salt Lake City’s 2002 bid.
The reforms allowed a dual award of the 2030 and 2034 Winter Games in Paris. The French Alps were named the host for 2030, and Salt Lake City for 2034, albeit with a last-minute termination clause added to the contract with the IOC amid concerns over a U.S. investigation into doping allegations.
Bach, who oversaw the new, less formal bid process being used to select Winter Games sites for the first time, has been seen as a strong leader. He has also been scrutinized for the IOC’s handling of some issues, including allowing Russians to participate as neutral athletes in Paris despite their country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Last October, Bach was publicly encouraged by some IOC members to support changing the rules on term limits and seek four more years as president through 2029. While he did not dismiss running again, Bach did make it clear the election should not disrupt the Paris Games.
”In order to safeguard the credibility of the IOC we all, and in particular I, as your president, have to respect the high standards of good governance which we have set for ourselves,” Bach told IOC members in an emotional speech last Saturday.
“After 12 years in the office of IOC President our organization is best served with a change in leadership. New times are calling for new leaders,” said the 70-year-old leader who became a member in 1991.
He said he will ask the IOC Executive Board to schedule the election of a new president for March 2025, with the term set to start on June 24, 2025.
Besides Samaranch, Jr., other IOC members seen as in contention include Sebastian Coe, who led the 2012 Summer Games in London and now heads the international federation for track and field, as well as several women. The IOC has never had a woman president.