The Olympic movement will have a new leader next year. IOC president Thomas Bach told a meeting of members Saturday that he will not change the rules to stay in office and that the Olympics will be “best served with a change in leadership.”
Bach has led the International Olympic Committee since September 2013 and his 12-year presidency was to expire next year — a term limit introduced as part of reforms passed after the Salt Lake City bidding scandal 25 years ago, Associated Press reported.
But speculation has grown since last October that Bach could stay on after IOC members asked him to consider changing Olympic Charter rules that would otherwise end his leadership.
“New times are calling for new leaders”
The 70-year-old Bach ended any doubt about his plans on the penultimate day of the Paris Games, noting that governance had to be respected “in order to safeguard the credibility of the IOC.”
The IOC now needed a new leader, he said, who could navigate an increasingly digital and politically pressured world while building strong relations with emerging powers in the “ever more influential so-called Global South.”
“New times are calling for new leaders,” Bach said in a speech where he paused to hold back tears. “I, with my age, am not the best captain. I know with this decision I am disappointing many of you.”