Thomas Bach s successor needs cool head to guide Olympics through stormy seas experts

PYLOS, Greece – Whoever succeeds Thomas Bach as president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on March 20 will need to be “cool under fire”, with some members believing the very existence of the Olympic Movement is at stake.

Seven candidates are vying to become the most powerful person in sport governance and replace Bach, who steps down after a stormy 12-year tenure when he had to contend with Covid, a Russian doping scandal as well as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“I believe this is the most significant Olympic election in nearly half a century,” Michael Payne, a former head of IOC Marketing, told AFP.

“Some IOC members are even predicting that the very future of the Olympic Movement is at stake.”

Payne, who in nearly two decades at the IOC was credited with renewing its brand and finances through sponsorships, said the Movement has “never been stronger” thanks in part to “perhaps the greatest Games ever” in Paris 2024.

However, he added that the “future outlook is fraught with risk”.

“The IOC has not faced such a troubled geopolitical outlook in many years,” the 66-year-old Irishman added.

“How the IOC navigates an ever more fractured political world, maintaining universality and how the IOC engages with a rapidly changing marketing and broadcast market will define the Movement’s future.”

Martin Sorrell – who founded advertising giant WPP and sat on the IOC’s Communications Commission – said the next president required a particular skillset as there is “immense volatility in the world”.

With the next Summer Games in Los Angeles in 2028, Bach’s successor will have to deal with the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump.

“The next IOC president is going to have to possess political savvy, tact, a strong temperament and a steady hand,” Sorrell told AFP.

“The next president