President of FIS Applies to be President of IOC

17th September 2024

Last modified on September 20th, 2024

The President of the International Ski & Snowboard Federation, Johan Eliasch, has thrown his hat into the ring to become President of the International Olympic Committee.

The Swedish former boss of Head is already a member of the IOC, and though not expected to win is seen as something of a dark horse.

Johan Eliasch. Image c/o FIS

The front-runner to succeed Thomas Back as President of the IOC is GB’s Sebastian Coe, who is chairman of World Athletics with an impeccable Olympic background, though his victory is by no means a foregone conclusion.

Here are the seven contenders:

Lord Sebastian Coe of Great Britain
Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe
Juan Antonio Samaranch of Spain
Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan
David Lapparient of France
Morinari Watanabe of Japan
Johan Eliasch of Sweden

Seven candidates announced for IOC presidency.
Find out who they are 👇https://t.co/YkJZ0jfuCg
— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) September 16, 2024

Thomas Bach will stay on until 24th June 2025 to oversee a smooth transition.

“In order to safeguard the credibility of the IOC we all, and in particular I as your president, have to respect the highest standards of good governance we have set for ourselves,” he stated.

The candidates will present their programmes, in camera, to the full IOC membership on the occasion of a meeting to be held in Lausanne (Switzerland) in January 2025,” read a short IOC statement unveiling the candidates.

A new president should be elected during the organisation’s 143rd Session scheduled 18th to 21st March 2025 in Greece.

During its 130-year history, the IOC has had nine presidents, all of whom have been men.

None has come from Africa, Asia, or Latin America.