Two former Olympic champions are in the race to be the next IOC president. (More Sports News)
So is a prince of a Middle East kingdom and the son of a former pres🤪ident. The global leaders of cycling, gym🔴nastics and skiing also are in play.
The International Olympic Committee published a list Monday of seven would-be candidates who are set to run for election in March to succeed outgoing president Thomas Bach f𝓰or the next eight years🌠.
Just one woman, IOC executive board member Kirsty Coventry from Zimbab💯we, entered the contest to lead an organization that has had only male presidents in its 130-year history.
Eight of those presidents were from Europe aꦜnd one from the United States.
Coventry and Seb𒁏astian Coe are two-time gold medalists in swimming and running, respectively.
Prince Feisal al Hussein of Jordan🌄 is also on the IOC board.
Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. of Spain is one of the four IཧOC vice presidents, whose father was president for 21 years until 200⭕1.
David Lappartient🌱 is the president of cycling's governing body,🔜 Morinari Watanabe leads gymnastics, and Johan Eliasch is president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation. Coe is the president of track's World Athletics.
All seven met a deadline of Sunday to sen🐭d a letter of intent to Bach, who must leave the post next year after reaching the maximum 12 y꧋ears in office.
Bach declined at the Paris Olympics last month to seek to change IOC rules in order to stay in offi𒊎ce l꧃onger.
A formal ca📖ndidate list should be confirmed in January, 🥂three months before the March 18-21 election meeting in Greece, near the site of Ancient Olympia.
Only IOC members are eligible to stand as candidates, with v▨otes cast by the rest of the 111-strong membership of the Olympic body.
The IOC is one of the most exclusive clubs in world sports. Its members are drawn from European and Middle East royalty, leaders of international sports bodies, former and current Olympic athletes, politicians and diplomats plus industrialists, including some billionaireꦓs like Eliasch.
It makes for one of the most discreet and quirky election campaigns in world sports, with members prevented from publicly e𓆉ndoꦍrsing their pick.
Campaign limits on the candidates include a block on publishing videos, organizing public meetings and taking part🐎 in public debatꦏes.
The IOC will organize a closed-doo𒊎r meeting for candidates to address voters in January in its home cit🦂y Lausanne, Switzerland.
The IOC top job ideally cꦿalls for deep knowledge of managing sports, understanding athletes' n🌊eeds and nimble skills in global politics.
The president oversees an organization that earns billions of dollars in revenue from broadcasting and sponsor deals for the Olympic Games anﷺd emp🍃loys hundreds of staff in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Coe has been widely considered the most qualified candidate. A two-time Olympic champ🐻ion in the 1,500-meters, he was later an elected lawmaker in Britain i꧂n the 1990s, led the 2012 London Olympics organizing committee and has presided at World Athletics for nine years.
However, he has potential legal hurdles regarding his ability to serve a full⭕ eight-year mandate.
The IOC has an age limit of 70 for members, while Coe will be 6🤡8 on election day.
The rules allow🅺 for a special exemption to remain for four more years, but that would mean a si🍷x-year presidency unless those limits are changed.
Coventry, who turned 41 Mondꦿay, also has government experience as the ap💝pointed sports minister in Zimbabwe.
The only woman ever to stand as an IOC presidential candidate was Anita DeFrantz, a 𒈔former Olympic rower from the United States. She was eliminated in the first round of voting in a five-candidate election in 2001, which was won by Jacques Rogge.
Lappartient also is president of France's national Olympic body and has carried strong momentum from the Paris Summer Games.
He leads a French Alps project that🎉 was picked to host the 2030 Winter Games and was picked by Bach to oversee a long-term project sealed in Paris that will see Saudi Arabia hosting the Esports Olympic Games through 2035.
Eliasch is perhaps the most surprising candidate after being elected as an IOC member in ⛄Paris less than two months ago. The Swedish-British owner of the Head sportswear brand got 💛17 “no” votes, a notably high number in Olympic politics.