IOC president Thomas Bach speaks during a news conference in Mumbai, India, on Oct. 16.Rafiq Maqbool/The Associated Press
One day after some Olympic officials urged him to scrap term limits and stay for four more years, IOC president Thomas Bach said Monday they “are necessary.” The German lawyer also took a public swipe at potential successor Sebastian Coe because some colleagues think he is campaigning too early.
The proposal on Sunday to remain as president, which Bach declined to dismiss, heaped negative headlines on the International Olympic Committee. It made the Olympic body seem ready to override a key anti-corruption reform passed after the Salt Lake City bid scandal 25 years ago.
Bach, whose 12-year presidential term ends in 2025, also said Monday his supporters were opposed to any campaigning by one potential candidate – Coe, the president of track body World Athletics and a two-time Olympic champion runner.
“A number of these colleagues think and feel that an election campaign so early before the election would be disrupting the preparations for the Olympic Games Paris, which are so important for the entire Olympic movement,” Bach said of the presidential vote set for March, 2025.
Coe, who won back-to-back gold medals in the 1,500 metres, has said this year he is not ruling out a run for the IOC presidency. That was an untypical statement of intent in the discreet world of Olympic politics.
When Bach was asked Monday if his supporters wanted to stop Coe, he replied: “I leave that up to you.”
He also declined to specify if he might yet be a candidate himself in 2025.