International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach said at the Paris Games on Saturday he will not seek to remain in charge for a third term.
“New times are calling for new leaders,” the 70-year-old German lawyer, who has been in charge since 2013, told a session of IOC members in the French capital.
Bach said he was asked to stay in his role but insisted he would not attempt to extend his mandate by changing the Olympic charter that limits the president to a maximum of 12 years in the role.
“I know with this decision I am disappointing many of you… But it is in the best interests of our beloved Olympic movement,” he said.
His successor will be elected during the IOC’s 143rd session in Athens from March 18-21, 2025 and will take office the following June.
The jostling to succeed Bach will now begin, with some well-informed IOC watchers tipping Zimbabwean former swimmer Kirsty Coventry, 40, for the role.
Aruban Nicole Hoevertsz, a 60-year-old former synchronised swimmer and IOC vice-president, has also been cited as a possible contender along with World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe, a British two-time Olympic gold medallist over 1,500m.
Bach, who won gold for West Germany in the foil fencing team event at the 1976 Olympics, was elected an IOC member at the age of 37 and went on to play a series of influential roles within the organisation, notably as a founding member of the IOC’s Athletes’ Commission, before taking over from Jacques Rogge.
When he was elected in 2013, the Bavarian claimed to embody the renewal of Olympism — in particular with less expensive and more environmentally friendly Games — with the slogan “change or be changed”.
“This mantra also applies to myself,” he said, before pausing for a few moments, with tears in his eyes.
Bach has repeatedly voiced his opposition to sports boycotts, attempting to establish a watertight boundary between political conflicts and the Olympics.
The next president will be able to prepare for the future with peace of mind with the summer and winter Olympic Games awarded until 2034, with “significant” interest in the 2036 and 2040 editions, Bach said.
