Updated 13 September 2024, 23:15
It is more than curious. Half the Olympic world is currently racking its brains over what this strange paper by the IOC's ethics acrobats means, which was sent out a few days before the deadline set for the successor to outgoing president Thomas Bach. But nobody is talking about the person who has the very best chance of taking the throne.
- Interested IOC members have until 15 September to submit their candidacy in writing to Thomas Bach, not to the Executive Board or, well, the Ethics Committee - no, to Bach.
- The names of the presidential candidates are to be published on 16 September.
- Between 20 and 24 January 2025, the IOC will meet in Lausanne to listen to the presentations of all candidates in camera.
- Between 18 and 21 March 2025, the tenth IOC president - or the first female IOC president - will be elected at a luxury resort in Costa Navarino on the Peloponnese.
- However, Bach will not hand over the reins until 24 June 2025 (another first in the German's term of office, which is full of novelties and confusing regulations).
Nawal El Moutawakel (62) has done a marvellous job so far. For months, even years now, the Moroccan has somehow flown under the radar of major public attention.
Nawal is not constantly jetting off to Mumbai to visit the Ambani family like Juan Antonio Samaranch, who has just been there again after attending the wickedly expensive wedding celebrations of the obese Ambani offspring Anant, just like Kirsty Coventry.
Nawal also doesn't talk much about the IOC presidency, like others who are ridiculed in the industry for it.
Nawal remains largely silent. And acts. In any case, she was recently elected IOC vice president for the second time at the IOC session in Paris.
Is she doing this to avoid taking the final step - crossing the finish line first?
That would be unsportsmanlike.
And illogical.
Nevertheless, El Moutawakel's name has hardly been mentioned publicly after Graham Dunbar (AP) reported yesterday on the letter from IOC ethics puppet Ban Ki-Moon. I'll come back to the paper in a moment, until then let's focus on Nawal for a few moments so that she doesn't slip under the radar unjustifiably.
Nawal El Moutawakel is the perfect fit for the IOC presidency for at least a thousand and one reasons.
That says nothing about her qualities as a global sports politician. El Moutawakel can hardly be measured against her potential predecessors Juan Antonio Samaranch (†), Jacques Rogge (†) and Thomas Bach. There will still be a lot of talk about class, content and lack of content.
But it is a solution that not only Thomas Bach could live with.
For the new Olympic superpowers Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Nawal El Moutawakel would/is even the perfect compromise. Much better than Princess Reema Bint Bandar Bin Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud running for the IOC presidency. Also much better than Prince Feisal Al-Hussein of Jordan. Everyone could agree on Nawal - far beyond the influential Arab sports world.
