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Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said on Saturday he would step down from his position when his second term expires in 2025.
The German said he would not seek another term for which the Olympic Charter would have to be changed.
Bach made the announcement at the IOC Session on the penultimate day of the Paris Olympics, saying the Olympic Movement is “best served with a change of leadership.
“New times are calling for new leaders,” Bach said. “I, with my age, am not the best captain. I know with this decision I am disappointing many of you.”
The German 1976 fencing gold medallist was elected in 2013 for an eight-year term as successor of Belgian surgeon Jacques Rogge and earned another four-year term in 2021.
According to the charter, no more than 12 years at the top of the world’s most important sports organisation are allowed.
Thus was part of the reforms around the Salt Lake City Winter Games bribes for votes scandal.
But at last year’s session several IOC members had asked for a change of the charter and Bach to stay longer.
Bach said at the time he was humbled by the proposals but also said he respected the charter.
The IOC ethics committee had asked Bach to not speak out on the issue until the end of the Paris Games, because a statement in any direction could have overshadowed it.
He said on Saturday that a new leader has to take charge in a more and more digital and politically pressured world.
Bach oversaw the Olympic Agenda 2020 reform package which changed the bidding process and the hosting of the Games, and most recently the first e-sports Olympics were announced.
But he was also accused of being too close with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
His reign also saw the Russian state-sponsored doping programme in general and at the Sochi 2024 Games in particular.
The new IOC president will be elected at next year’s Session in Greece in March, and to take over on Olympic Day June 23, when Bach will step down.
No one has publicly expressed an intention to run for the presidency.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe and Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, the son of long-time IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, have been mentioned as be potential candidates.
But the IOC has also never been led by a woman.
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