Going for gold: A look at the political and sporting challenges facing the next IOC president

Going for gold: A look at the political and sporting challenges facing the next IOC president
From top left: Sebastian Coe, Kirsty Coventry, Johan Eliasch, Prince Feisal Al-Hussein of Jordan, David Lappartient, Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. and Morinari Watanabe are competing for the IOC presidency. (AFP)
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Updated 17 March 2025
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Going for gold: A look at the political and sporting challenges facing the next IOC president

Going for gold: A look at the political and sporting challenges facing the next IOC president
  • Seven candidates are competing in the first contested International Olympic Committee election since 2013 to replace Thomas Bach
  • Coventry is just the second female presidential candidate in the IOC’s 131-year history and the first with a chance to win

COSTA NAVARINO, Greece: An in tray of Olympic challenges spanning political, social, sporting and operational issues awaits the next IOC president who will be elected Thursday.

Seven candidates are competing in the first contested International Olympic Committee election since 2013 to replace Thomas Bach, who formally leaves office in June after the mandated maximum of 12 years.

They include two Olympic gold medalists, Sebastian Coe and Kirsty Coventry, and the son of a former IOC president, Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Four are presidents of Olympic sports bodies, including Johan Eliasch from skiing, David Lappartient from cycling, and Morinari Watanabe from gymnastics. Coe also leads track’s World Athletics, organized the 2012 London Olympics and is widely viewed as the most qualified candidate.

Three are members of the Bach-chaired IOC executive board that meets Monday: Samaranch, Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan and Coventry, the sports minister of Zimbabwe who would be the first woman leader in the IOC’s 131-year history.

Coventry is seen as Bach’s preferred choice to be elected by about 100 IOC members invited into an exclusive club from royal families, international politics and business, sports officials plus past and current athletes.

Here’s a look at some of the issues facing them:

The US

The Summer Games is the foundation of the Olympic movement, where each of the 207 officially recognized teams competes. Fewer than 100 countries participate at the Winter Games.

For the IOC, bringing the world’s athletes together in the Olympic village is a powerful symbol of political neutrality and promoting peace.

The next Summer Games is in Los Angeles in 2028, in the final months of President Donald Trump’s second term. As the host nation head of state, he should help formally open the games at a July 14 ceremony likely drawing the biggest global audience for any broadcast in 2028.

A challenge until then is protecting what the IOC calls Olympic values, including gender equality and universal inclusion.

American relations this year with long-time allies like Canada, Ukraine, Denmark and Germany has cast doubt on how much warmth there will be for the US as a welcoming host in 2028.

The federal government’s limited operational role for the Olympics includes security and border issues, including visas. A test of those plans will be the US co-hosting the 2026 World Cup in men’s soccer with Canada and Mexico. Iran should be among the first teams to qualify next week.

The next IOC president will need nimble diplomatic skills, balanced with close ties to the Democratic-leaning local organizing committee, city of LA and state of California.

Global politics

The IOC has been closely aligned with the United Nations and the multilateral rules-based order shaping the world for 80 years. That is under pressure, from the US and elsewhere. When and how to reintegrate Russia in the Olympic family is pressing.

If these can seem uniquely challenging times, Coe noted his career as a track champion at Moscow in 1980 and LA in 1984 was an Olympic era of Cold War boycotts and exclusion for apartheid-era South Africa.

“They always have been (navigable) in the past,” Coe said of the pending diplomatic turmoil.

Equality for women

Gender equality has been a key policy of the Bach presidency: Equal quotas of men and women athletes, higher profile scheduling of women’s events, men and women flag bearers for each team, more women members of the IOC.

Coventry is just the second female presidential candidate in the IOC’s 131-year history and the first with a chance to win.

Gender eligibility in Olympic sports is now a hot-button issue, fueled further by President Trump’s executive order on transgender athletes in the US and promises to pressure the IOC, and coming after the furor and disinformation around women’s boxing in Paris last year.

The IOC had some responsibility for women’s boxing arriving in Paris with what seemed outdated eligibility rules. Those could be reviewed before 2028.

Stricter rules on transgender athletes — barring from women’s events anyone who went through male puberty — already were passed before Paris by swimming, cycling led by Lappartient and track and field led by Coe.

Some candidates in Thursday’s election, including Coe, Samaranch and Eliasch have urged the IOC to take a clearer policy lead.

2036 Olympics host

The new president’s eight-year mandate runs through 2033 and all games hosts in that time are already picked. Even 2034 is decided for the Salt Lake City Winter Games and 2038 looks destined for Switzerland.

The next big decision is the 2036 Summer Games with high-level lobbying under way by countries like India and Qatar. Doha would perhaps anchor a regional project with neighboring Gulf states.

There is no set timetable for a decision in the new, flexible and more opaque process designed by Bach which largely cuts members out of decisions, but limits the risk of vote-buying.

Climate change

The 2036 Olympics seem likely to move from the July-August period the Summer Games has occupied since the 2004 Athens Olympics.

It can be a catalyst for a wide review of the global sports calendar amid rising temperatures and extreme weather.

With fewer options to find Winter Games hosts, Eliasch proposes in his manifesto to rotate among a select group of permanent venues.

Engaging athletes

Olympic athletes could be winners in the election.

Coe’s World Athletics broke an IOC taboo by paying $50,000 to track and field gold medalists in Paris, and promises payments for silver and bronze in LA.

Samaranch wants to give athletes control of video of their Olympic performances currently denied to protect broadcasters’ exclusivity. Athletes have long objected to the strict drafting of Olympic Charter Rule 40 that limits their commercial options at the games.

Coventry is the most recent Olympic athlete, swimming at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games, and was their representative on the IOC executive board from 2018-21. Her manifesto offers no new benefits but supports the established Athlete 365 program helping prepare for their next careers.

Engaging voters

A theme for some candidates is that voters Thursday want more input and active involvement in the IOC’s work. Bach’s management style is widely seen as controlling.

Lappartient called for more debating instead of just listening; Coe said “I don’t micro-manage“; Prince Feisal suggested unanimous votes that are routine “means there’s something wrong.”

Samaranch offers members more say in selecting Olympic hosts. The members’ age limit could rise five years to 75. Coe even would let members vote in just four years, not eight, whether to re-elect him.


Jacks helps Mumbai beat Hyderabad in IPL

Jacks helps Mumbai beat Hyderabad in IPL
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Jacks helps Mumbai beat Hyderabad in IPL

Jacks helps Mumbai beat Hyderabad in IPL
  • England all-rounder Will Jacks shone with both bat and ball, picking up two wickets to help restrict Hyderabad to 162 for five
  • Suryakumar Yadav hit 26 and the final touches were added by Pandya and Tilak Varma, who hit an unbeaten 21, as Mumbai won with 11 balls to spare

MUMBAI: The Mumbai Indians batters and bowlers starred in a comfortable four-wicket victory overt Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League on Thursday.
England all-rounder Will Jacks shone with both bat and ball, picking up two wickets to help restrict Hyderabad to 162 for five and then hitting a 26-ball 36 to help bolster his team’s chase.
Five-time champions Mumbai won the toss and bowled on a sluggish pitch at Wankhede Stadium.
Decent knocks from openers Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickleton helped set up the chase, while skipper Hardik Pandya smacked a quick 21 runs off nine balls toward the end to seal the game.
The match helps restore a bit of Mumbai’s mojo, pushing them into a crowded mid table. They have three victories in seven matches.
Pandya said the way his team bowled was “very smart and spot on.”
“We stuck to simple, basic plans,” the Mumbai skipper said, adding that once the pressure to get boundaries eased in the second innings, they “pushed the pedal at the end.”
Hyderabad openers Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head kicked off the first innings with a 59-run partnership before Sharma, who hit 40 runs off 28 balls, departed in the eighth over.
The team then struggled for momentum with Kishan (2) and Head (28) falling to leave Hyderabad at 83-3 at the end of the 12th over.
Disciplined bowling from Jasprit Bumrah and Jacks continued to restrict Hyderabad’s batsmen but a valiant late-innings knock from Heinrich Klaasen (37) infused a glimmer of hope.
Young Aniket Verma then smacked a quick 18 runs off eight balls.
In reply, Mumbai’s openers made a solid start as Sharma hit 26 and Rickleton 31. They were 70-2 at the end of the 10th over.
Jacks helped anchor the chase with his 26-ball 36 before departing in the 15th over. Suryakumar Yadav hit 26 and the final touches were added by Pandya and Tilak Varma, who hit an unbeaten 21, as Mumbai won with 11 balls to spare.
Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins admitted that it was not the “easiest” wicket.
“Got to play well away from home to make the finals, unfortunately not clicked yet.”


Young Saudi artist designs Fernando Alonso’s helmet for Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Young Saudi artist designs Fernando Alonso’s helmet for Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Updated 17 April 2025
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Young Saudi artist designs Fernando Alonso’s helmet for Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Young Saudi artist designs Fernando Alonso’s helmet for Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
  • Alonso “loved the design’s Saudi Arabian desert landscapes, which reminded him of his time competing in the Dakar Rally”

JEDDAH: Spanish driver Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin’s two-time Formula 1 world champion, will wear a special Saudi-inspired helmet for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit this weekend.

The design was created by Sarah Turkestani, a young Saudi artist, whose work was selected by Alonso through a nationwide competition organized as part of Aramco’s Generation 3 initiative.

The Saudi company is the main sponsor of the Aston Martin F1 team.

According to the team, Alonso “loved the design’s Saudi Arabian desert landscapes, which reminded him of his time competing in the Dakar Rally.”

Turkestani said the competition gave her the opportunity to channel her passion for art and design, while celebrating Saudi Arabia’s rich cultural heritage.

“The desert theme represents resilience and history, combined with a modern style to represent F1,” she said. “I am grateful for the chance to share my design, and I am so proud to see it on Fernando Alonso’s helmet. It’s such an honor to know he will wear it for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.”

As part of the competition, Aramco invited Saudi designers, artists, and motorsport fans to create a unique helmet design inspired by Saudi culture and national identity.

The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, now a key fixture on the F1 calendar, takes place on the streets of Jeddah’s Corniche Circuit, one of the fastest and longest tracks in the championship. First held in 2021, the race has quickly become a standout event for drivers and fans alike.


Verstappen ‘very relaxed’ about his F1 future

Verstappen ‘very relaxed’ about his F1 future
Updated 17 April 2025
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Verstappen ‘very relaxed’ about his F1 future

Verstappen ‘very relaxed’ about his F1 future
  • “I don’t know,” Verstappen said when asked by an Italian reporter ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix why Ferrari were not being mentioned as a possible destination
  • “I mean, honestly, a lot of people are talking about it, except me”

JEDDAH: Max Verstappen played it cool as speculation swirled around his Formula One future on Thursday, with Red Bull’s four-times world champion saying it was not on his mind and he was ‘very relaxed’.
Red Bull’s motorsport consultant Helmut Marko said after last Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix that the team were concerned the Dutch driver might leave at the end of the season.
Verstappen finished only sixth, a week after he won in Japan, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri winning from pole with fastest lap.
“I don’t know,” Verstappen said when asked by an Italian reporter ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix why Ferrari were not being mentioned as a possible destination as well as Mercedes and Aston Martin.


“I mean, honestly, a lot of people are talking about it, except me.
“I just want to focus on my car, work with the people in the team. That’s the only thing that I’m thinking about in Formula One at the moment. I’m very relaxed.”
Verstappen, who has a contract to 2028 with exit clauses, had led the championship for more than two years, since May 2022, until McLaren’s Lando Norris won the season-opener in Australia.
The Red Bull driver is still only eight points adrift of Norris, and third overall in the standings, but McLaren have won three of four races.
“I just keep working, keep trying to improve the car. Naturally, Bahrain wasn’t a great weekend for us. I think we were all pretty disappointed with that,” said Verstappen.
“We just keep on trying to improve the car, come up with new ideas to try on the car. The competition is tough. That’s how I go about my weeks, just trying to improve the situation.”
The Dutch driver was also asked about his manager Raymond Vermeulen reportedly shouting at Marko after the Sakhir race.
“They were having just a conversation about everything, which I think is allowed,” said the champion.
“People can always see it in their own way, how people are discussing things. But I think we were all left frustrated with the result and, of course, the things that went wrong in the race.
“I think that’s where my manager Raymond and Helmut spoke about it, and even (team boss) Christian (Horner) came along as well. So they all had a conversation. I think that should be allowed. We all care at the end of the day.
“We care about the team, we care about the people, we care about results. I think that’s quite normal.”


Saudi Arabia down Korea to move into Asia U17 final

Saudi Arabia down Korea to move into Asia U17 final
Updated 17 April 2025
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Saudi Arabia down Korea to move into Asia U17 final

Saudi Arabia down Korea to move into Asia U17 final
  • Saudi goalkeeper saved two spot kicks to give the young Green Falcons a 3-1 shootout victory
  • There were opportunities on either side but the Green Falcons’ best chance of the first half came seven minutes before it was over

TAIF: Abdulrahman Al-Otaibi was the hero once more on Thursday as Saudi Arabia beat South Korea on penalties to move into the final of the U17 Asian Cup.
After 90 minutes of tense final semifinal action ended 1-1, the goalkeeper saved two spot kicks to give the young Green Falcons a 3-1 shootout victory.
Roared on by thousands of fans at the Okadh Stadium in the western city of Taif, the hosts, who last won the title way back in 1988, found it difficult however to get past the South Koreans who were looking for a third title in total.
Both had squeezed through their respective quarter-finals via a penalty shootout, Saudi Arabia defeating Japan while Korea got past Tajikistan, and it was not a surprise that the opening exchange were relatively quiet.

There were opportunities on either side but the Green Falcons’ best chance of the first half came seven minutes before it was over. Abdulrahman Sufyani was in a good position and had time to guide his header into the top corner, but his effort went just wide.
The Koreans broke the deadlock just before the break. A free kick from midway inside the home half caused problems. The ball fell to Oh Ha-ram. And while his first-time fierce shot was blocked by the goalkeeper, he was on hand to fire home the rebound.
Saudi Arabia pushed forward from the start of the second half in search of the equalizer. Incredibly, it came with the last action of the game.
The Korean goalkeeper, Park Do-hun, desperate to clear, brought down Abdulaziz Al-Fawaz, and after a lengthy and tense VAR intervention, the penalty was given and then Abubaker Saeed smashed home with 99 minutes on the clock.
That meant a penalty shootout. Al-Otaibi saved from Jeong Hyeon-ung and Kim Do-yeon to win the game for his team.
The victors will now go on to a final against either Uzbekistan or North Korea on Sunday.
The journey is not over, however, as the focus will be on preparing for the 2025 World Cup, which will be held in Qatar in November.


Liverpool on brink of title, Leicester and Ipswich prepare for drop

Liverpool on brink of title, Leicester and Ipswich prepare for drop
Updated 17 April 2025
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Liverpool on brink of title, Leicester and Ipswich prepare for drop

Liverpool on brink of title, Leicester and Ipswich prepare for drop
  • Arne Slot’s Liverpool have turned this one into a procession as rivals fell by the wayside
  • Slot looks certain to become only the fifth manager to win the Premier League in his debut season in English football

LONDON: Liverpool can wrap up a record-equalling 20th English title on Sunday when Leicester City and Ipswich Town are both likely to have their relegation from the Premier League confirmed.
After several nail-biting Premier League title races that went down to the wire, Arne Slot’s Liverpool have turned this one into a procession as rivals fell by the wayside.
Despite trailing champions Manchester City and Arsenal early in the campaign, Liverpool have been top for all but one week since Sept. 28 and three points at 19th-placed Leicester could see them join Manchester United as England’s most-crowned club.
For that to happen, second-placed Arsenal would also have to lose away to third-from-bottom Ipswich.
But whatever the outcome of this weekend’s games, Slot looks certain to become only the fifth manager to win the Premier League in his debut season in English football — the others being Jose Mourinho (Chelsea), Carlo Ancelotti (Chelsea), Manuel Pellegrini (Manchester City) and Antonio Conte (Chelsea).
While Liverpool’s second Premier League title in six seasons has looked inevitable, so has Leicester’s return to the Championship after a woeful campaign.
Leicester snapped an eight-game losing run in the league to draw at Brighton last week but are 17 points behind 17th-placed West Ham United with six games remaining and anything other than a shock win over Liverpool will put them down alongside bottom club Southampton who visit West Ham on Saturday.
Ipswich, who are 14 points behind West Ham, may hope that Arsenal are still celebrating beating Real Madrid to reach the Champions League semifinals when they host Mikel Arteta’s team at Portman Road on Sunday.
The Suffolk club have at least shown some fight this season but defeat by Arsenal, along with wins for West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers, would mean that for the second season in a row the three promoted clubs go straight back down.
With the issues at the top and the bottom all but decided, the battle for Champions League qualification is at least providing some tension in the closing weeks.
Arsenal look set to qualify, but the five clubs below them are battling for the three other places.
Third-placed Newcastle United (59 points) visit seventh-placed Aston Villa (54) on Saturday while fourth-placed Nottingham Forest (57) are away at Tottenham Hotspur on Monday.
Outgoing champions Manchester City (55) are currently hanging on to fifth place but can ill-afford any slip-ups at a rejuvenated Everton on Saturday.
Chelsea (54) have slipped down to sixth place after successive draws and, with a tough-looking run-in, will be desperate for a victory at Fulham on Sunday.
Bournemouth, Fulham and Brighton and Hove Albion are all still harboring hopes of qualifying for Europe. Bournemouth are at Crystal Palace on Saturday while Brighton visit Brentford.
Fourteenth-placed Manchester United are on course for their worst finish since 1990 and Ruben Amorim’s side will seek to snap a three-match winless run in the Premier League as they host Wolves on Sunday.