Thomas Bach mentioned Friday he’ll stand in 2021 for a second time period as president of the International Olympic Committee. The 66-year-old German was elected for an eight-year time period as Olympic chief in September 2013, taking on from Belgian Jacques Rogge. Bach will likely be eligible for a second and last four-year time period. Talking on the 136th IOC Session, held nearly due to the coronavirus pandemic, Bach mentioned: “When you, the IOC members, need, I’m able to run for a second time period as IOC president and to proceed to serve you and this Olympic motion all of us love a lot for one more 4 years.”
The IOC presidential elections are slated to happen in Athens in June 2021.
Bach, who gained gold for West Germany within the foil fencing group occasion on the 1976 Olympics, claimed numerous IOC members had lately approached him asking if he would search re-election.
“I’m grateful and deeply touched by the numerous phrases of encouragement and confidence,” Bach mentioned.
Influential
Elected an IOC member on the age of 37, Bach went on to play a collection of influential roles throughout the organisation earlier than being elected its ninth president.
He served as vice-president thrice and was additionally chairman of the authorized fee and head of anti-doping investigations.
Bach says his involvement in sports activities politics was sparked by West Germany’s boycott of the 1980 Video games in Moscow over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the federal government’s disregard for athletes’ issues.
In 1981, he was elected because the Olympic athletes’ spokesperson on the IOC Congress.
Beneath his reign as IOC chief, Bach has needed to grapple with a number of political challenges and has notably overseen the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and the 2016 Rio Summer season Video games, each perceived as essentially the most troublesome in recent times.
He has additionally been a key participant within the ongoing Russian doping saga, though the IOC got here in for criticism from some quarters for not issuing Moscow with a blanket ban over its state-sponsored doping system.
Bach additionally got here underneath fireplace for reinstating the Russian Nationwide Olympic Committee after the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics regardless of failed medication checks there.
He’s credited, nonetheless, with having put in place the Olympic Agenda 2020, reforms aimed toward slicing prices and streamlining bidding processes to higher appeal to potential host cities.
However the German lawyer and businessman may properly have his greatest problem forward of him, within the type of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Promoted
In a historic transfer, the Tokyo Olympics have been in March postponed till 2021 — a primary in peacetime.
There are fears over whether or not the Video games will even go forward subsequent 12 months, whereas Beijing is scheduled to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, simply six months later.
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