Lord Coe confirms bid to be next IOC president as seven candidates confirmed
Coe is the current president of World Athletics and will hope to succeed Thomas Bach
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Your support makes all the difference.Lord Coe is one of seven candidates for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee.
Coe, the current president of World Athletics and a two-time Olympic 1500m gold medallist, was on the list published by the IOC on Monday morning as the global body works to find a successor to outgoing president Thomas Bach.
The new president will be elected at the IOC Session in Athens next March.
Also on the shortlist are David Lappartient, the president of cycling’s world governing body the UCI, and the former IOC athletes’ commission chair Kirsty Coventry. Coventry won two Olympic backstroke golds.
Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, whose father of the same name served as IOC president between 1980 and 2001, is also a candidate.
The other candidates listed by the IOC are Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan and the presidents of the international skiing and gymnastics federations, Johan Eliasch and Morinari Watanabe.
Bach confirmed on August 11, the penultimate day of the Olympic Games in Paris, that he would not seek a third term as IOC president.
“I have been involved in the Olympic movement for the larger part of my life,” Coe said during the Games as he hinted at running.
“I have chaired an Olympic Games from bid to delivery and two years of legacy after that. I have been privileged to compete in two Olympic Games.
“I have chaired a national Olympic committee, and I now have the best job in the world as president of the number-one Olympic sport.
“These are experiences that if you put together, as well as other aspects of my life, I think would be beneficial to the role.”
PA