Berliner Boersenzeitung - Outgoing IOC president Thomas Bach faced mammoth challenges

EUR -
AED 4.303228
AFN 81.923031
ALL 97.909719
AMD 450.171953
ANG 2.096976
AOA 1074.487442
ARS 1469.906879
AUD 1.794206
AWG 2.109136
AZN 1.999097
BAM 1.952812
BBD 2.36751
BDT 142.865081
BGN 1.956194
BHD 0.441689
BIF 3493.476377
BMD 1.171742
BND 1.499089
BOB 8.09162
BRL 6.38623
BSD 1.172657
BTN 100.430197
BWP 15.654757
BYN 3.837305
BYR 22966.148894
BZD 2.355312
CAD 1.60343
CDF 3381.648779
CHF 0.932675
CLF 0.028783
CLP 1104.543443
CNY 8.406137
CNH 8.419173
COP 4747.466217
CRC 592.777215
CUC 1.171742
CUP 31.051171
CVE 110.844284
CZK 24.62897
DJF 208.806749
DKK 7.460554
DOP 70.355427
DZD 151.979693
EGP 58.199616
ERN 17.576134
ETB 162.732892
FJD 2.633784
FKP 0.863301
GBP 0.861412
GEL 3.175237
GGP 0.863301
GHS 12.189053
GIP 0.863301
GMD 83.77774
GNF 10169.893454
GTQ 9.00046
GYD 245.007696
HKD 9.198218
HNL 30.661649
HRK 7.536664
HTG 153.898122
HUF 400.449921
IDR 19043.155705
ILS 3.925073
IMP 0.863301
INR 100.421007
IQD 1536.081823
IRR 49359.64357
ISK 143.011291
JEP 0.863301
JMD 187.151234
JOD 0.830746
JPY 171.786824
KES 151.507599
KGS 102.468664
KHR 4708.024801
KMF 492.716372
KPW 1054.5423
KRW 1612.756825
KWD 0.357885
KYD 0.977198
KZT 609.283796
LAK 25260.767597
LBP 105061.138103
LKR 352.496985
LRD 235.101302
LSL 20.85478
LTL 3.45985
LVL 0.708775
LYD 6.333688
MAD 10.551579
MDL 19.845889
MGA 5178.92726
MKD 61.542715
MMK 2460.081593
MNT 4204.866527
MOP 9.481136
MRU 46.568354
MUR 53.067974
MVR 18.04166
MWK 2033.178856
MXN 21.792886
MYR 4.981087
MZN 74.944607
NAD 20.85478
NGN 1795.296721
NIO 43.151062
NOK 11.826043
NPR 160.688716
NZD 1.952949
OMR 0.450535
PAB 1.171018
PEN 4.153238
PGK 4.916982
PHP 66.250171
PKR 333.35795
PLN 4.239311
PYG 9345.064305
QAR 4.265851
RON 5.076338
RSD 117.128528
RUB 91.628726
RWF 1694.34904
SAR 4.394767
SBD 9.768727
SCR 17.19417
SDG 703.628272
SEK 11.143369
SGD 1.500779
SHP 0.920805
SLE 26.369196
SLL 24570.854255
SOS 670.161186
SRD 43.733523
STD 24252.699675
SVC 10.259875
SYP 15235.145419
SZL 20.846682
THB 38.323037
TJS 11.262367
TMT 4.112815
TND 3.415494
TOP 2.744335
TRY 46.925742
TTD 7.955352
TWD 34.175011
TZS 3069.964632
UAH 48.977755
UGX 4209.559576
USD 1.171742
UYU 47.019267
UZS 14863.921153
VES 131.572362
VND 30626.414118
VUV 139.793453
WST 3.226231
XAF 655.821156
XAG 0.03215
XAU 0.000356
XCD 3.166692
XDR 0.815631
XOF 655.821156
XPF 119.331742
YER 283.385812
ZAR 20.926173
ZMK 10547.081684
ZMW 28.405116
ZWL 377.300539
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Outgoing IOC president Thomas Bach faced mammoth challenges
Outgoing IOC president Thomas Bach faced mammoth challenges / Photo: FABRICE COFFRINI - AFP

Outgoing IOC president Thomas Bach faced mammoth challenges

Thomas Bach's eventful 12-year tenure as president of the International Olympic Committee comes to an end on Monday when he hands over the reins to Kirsty Coventry, the first woman and African to hold sport's most powerful political office.

Text size:

The 71-year-old German lawyer, a 1976 Olympic team fencing champion, faced many challenges during his time in power.

AFP Sport picks out three:

- Russia 'the elephant in the room' -

President Vladimir Putin was the first person to ring Bach to congratulate him on his election in 2013 -- little did Bach realise how Russia was to dog his presidency.

The state-sponsored doping scandal at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games and Russia breaking the Olympic Truce twice, in 2014 and 2022, taxed his patience and that of the IOC movement.

Bach faced pressure from both sides before the 2024 Paris Games and in the end permitted Russian athletes to compete despite the invasion of Ukraine, but only after being strictly vetted and under a neutral flag.

For Michael Payne, a former head of IOC marketing, Russia was the "large elephant in the room" and Bach was in a "no-win situation."

His fellow former IOC marketing executive Terrence Burns, who lived and worked in Russia in the 1990s, said Bach was one of many leaders fooled by Putin.

"On doping he should have been harsher," Burns told AFP.

"But let's be honest, the whole thing was almost unbelievable.

"On Ukraine, you were damned if you do and damned if you don't.

"I don't think any western government or politician has ever figured out Russia... nor did he."

Hugh Robertson, now an IOC member and the British sports minister responsible for overseeing the delivery of the highly successful 2012 London Games, believes Bach played his hand well over the Paris Games.

"The balance he struck over Russian participation in Paris was in line with the Olympic Charter," Robertson told AFP.

"He took very strong action against the government, banned any events in Russia, any national representation and any national symbols."

- Calling Japan's bluff over Covid -

Bach had "a very tough presidency and never caught a break" said Payne, but he always held his nerve.

No more so than when Bach resisted calls from within Japan for the Tokyo Games to be cancelled, not just postponed to 2021, because of the Covid pandemic.

Payne says Bach's painful memories of missing the Moscow Games in 1980 due to a boycott linked to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, had left their mark. The German said the IOC would not pull the plug.

In addition, the ramifications of cancelling Tokyo would have been enormous for the IOC.

"Think about if Tokyo had not taken place," said Payne.

"Would Beijing (the 2022 Winter Games) have taken place as well?

"The Olympic movement losing four years is maybe not existential, but boy it would have been tough."

In the end the Games did go ahead but the majority of athletes performed in empty stadia as local organisers banned spectators.

Burns says it was a tour de force from Bach.

"Honestly, I think it was his sheer willpower that made those Games happen when everyone, and I mean everyone, in the world doubted him," said the American.

"Japan tried to pull out. He called their bluff. Smart."

Robertson saw it from "inside the bubble" as he was then chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA).

"Of course it was a huge disappointment that there were no spectators but a generation of athletes got the chance to compete in an Olympic Games," said the 62-year-old.

"It probably would not have been the case had Bach not been in charge.

"I think athletes around the world owe Thomas Bach a huge vote of thanks."

- Robust finances -

Bach departs with the IOC's finances in rude health. He has boasted of a "60% growth in revenues" during his dozen years at the helm.

Payne says he has indeed increased revenues but the 67-year-old Irishman cautioned that "with increasing revenues partners become more demanding," adding "just because you have contracts locked up does not mean you do not change and evolve."

Robertson praises Bach for handing over to Coventry an IOC "in an extremely robust financial position."

He added the policy of locking sponsors into long-term deals "gave the IOC financial certainty at an exceptionally difficult time and we are seeing the benefit of that now."

Burns for his part draws on an aphorism of a former US president.

"Ronald Reagan used to say are you better off today than you were four years ago?

"By any measure, Bach enriched the IOC coffers.

"In the end that is all that matters."

- In summary -

"He will go down as one of the three great IOC presidents along with Pierre de Coubertin and Juan Antonio Samaranch." -- Payne

"A transformational president in unprecedented times." -- Burns

"Thomas Bach had the most difficult deck of cards to play of any IOC president. He has played them exceptionally well and left the IOC stronger than when he took over." -- Robertson

(O.Joost--BBZ)