The first female president in the 131-year history of the IOC is Kirsty Coventry, a 41-year-old two-time Olympic champion from Zimbabwe. Kirsty Coventry is the president Thomas Bach wanted. Because Bach is convinced that Coventry is the best person to administer his legacy.
Samaranch or Coventry, that is the question. Coe was not only thwarted, his performance remained surprisingly poor, as if he himself had never believed in becoming IOC president. Lappartient, Watanabe, Eliasch and Feisal just don't want to come in last. The water level report.
Why Kirsty Coventry will become IOC president next week. What would have to happen to prevent it – an ethics complaint against Bach et al, for example. What the latest multi-billion dollar TV deal has to do with the election, and the dubious paths that led Coventry in the IOC in the first place.
There are not even ten full days to go to the election of the 10th president in the history of the International Olympic Committee. Nobody should completely rule out the option of the first female president, even if there is increasing resistance to the plans to install Kirsty Coventry.
The world is out of joint. So far, the fascist madness in the White House has had little direct impact on the Olympic system. But let's not fool ourselves: what despots, billionaires, warmongers and Nazis do will also have a lasting impact on organized Olympic sport.
A few surprises and deliberate confusion are guaranteed by the IOC rules and what feels like a thousand possible exceptions. But the list of candidates for the presidency has been finalised. One woman and six men want to take the Olympic throne next spring.
... she submits her candidature by Sunday. Go ahead and bet while the odds are still attractive. Could anybody beat the Moroccan? Nicole Hoevertsz? At least nobody would have to talk anymore about the non-transparent IOC rules and the strange opinions of a dubious IOC Ethics Commission.
Will Thomas Bach have the Olympic Charter amended and begin a third term in office? Will he even step down once in this millennium? Who has he chosen as his successor? Many questions, important background information and some answers.
For the first time ever it can be revealed in detail how much cash the IOC paid to an Olympic host. Investigative journalist Jens Weinreich publishes the list of 117 payments to Rio 2016 in a worldwide exclusive in his magazine SPORT & POLITICS.
