The 'secretive and strange' battle for the most powerful role in sport

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The eclectic members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are gathering in Greece to decide who will formally succeed Thomas Bach as the body’s president at a ceremony in Switzerland on 23 June, “Olympic Day”.

The position of IOC president “carries significant diplomatic sway” not just in sport but in global politics, said The Guardian’s chief sports reporter Sean Ingle. One of the first people to call Bach and congratulate him on winning the 2013 election was Vladimir Putin. Yet the selection process is so “secretive and strange” it would “make a Vatican cardinal wince”.

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‘No Q&A sessions’

Campaigning is restricted to a single “15-minute PowerPoint presentation” given by each candidate to the IOC’s curious electorate, said Ingle. The just-over 100 members include a former school teacher from Cape Verde, a Bhutanese prince, Princess Anne and the Oscar-winning actor Michelle Yeoh. The process is secretive and tightly controlled: IOC rules state that, for each candidate, “at the end of their time slot, the microphone will be switched off automatically” and “no Q&A sessions” will be permitted.