IOC elections: How royals, politicians & Oscar-winners pick the most powerful figure in sport, why the election matters

Indeed the Olympics are at a crossroad. With the rise of streaming, the economics of sports broadcasting is up in the air. Add to that the looming threat of the youth drifting away from traditional Olympic disciplines, as well as warring nations, and culture and gender wars seeping into sports discourse. The next IOC president has her task cut out.

IOC members & the voting process

The 109-strong IOC is an exclusive, elite club. It includes royals such as Princess Nora of Liechtenstein, Britain’s Princess Anne and Monaco’s Prince Albert II; heads of state like the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani; Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh; and Reliance Foundation chairperson Nita Ambani, the only IOC member from India.

These powerful women and men will have to surrender their phones and other electronic devices before entering the room where the voting will take place. In fact, only IOC members and essential election supervisors will be present in the room when the voting begins behind closed doors.

According to the Associated Press, after a winner emerges, the doors to the room will open, the streamed broadcast will be turned back on, and the announcement will be made.

In the running

The upcoming elections may also be historic because a woman might be elected as president for the first time in the IOC’s 130-year history.

But for Kirsty Coventry to break the proverbial glass ceiling, she will have to defeat Seb Coe, the British Olympic champion who delivered the London Olympics and is also a former Member of Parliament, and Juan Antonio Samaranch, named after his father who also headed the IOC for two decades.

The trio has broken away from the pack of seven candidates trying to replace Bach. However, Coventry, the former Olympic champion swimmer from Zimbabwe, is seen as the “preferred” candidate of Thomas Bach, the former German Olympic champion, who has headed the IOC since 2013.

Issues at play

In an interview to The Indian Express earlier this month, Coventry said it is time to “fully protect the women’s categories at the Olympic Games”. As trans athletes and those with high testosterone competing in women’s categories splits the sporting world, nearly all candidates have underlined the need to “protect” women’s sports.

There have been some revolutionary ideas too, with the most eye-catching proposal coming from Japan’s Morinari Watanabe, who also heads the International Gymnastics Federation.

Watanabe has recommended replacing the current system in which one country hosts the Games with one in which the Olympics are held simultaneously in five host cities, on five continents, with each city hosting 10 events. (This would also increase the number of Olympic sports from 32 to 50). Hosting the Games on five different continents would make it possible to have a 24-hour rolling broadcast of the Games, Watanabe suggested.

Dealing with US President Donald Trump and his administration’s decisions, including the visa bans which may affect universal participation, will be another key challenge for the incoming president in the build-up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Why these elections matter

Simply put, the future of the Olympics as we know depends on who heads the IOC. “Some IOC members are even predicting that the very future of the Olympic Movement is at stake,” Payne told the AFP.

The IOC is a multi-billion dollar business conglomerate, with nearly every organised sport played in the world governed by its rules. Many sports, from hockey to shooting and archery, rely on the IOC for funding.

There is an argument that the current business model of the IOC is facing resistance because of the fast-evolving landscape. The fact that the IOC lost three of its most important sponsors after the Paris Olympics — which is believed to have reignited the brand — is seen as a warning sign. Although the IOC’s $3-billion media rights deal last week with NBC should allay immediate concerns.

The Indian angle

India is eyeing to host the 2036 Olympics — the new president will preside over the process to pick a host country for these Games. It is expected that a decision will be taken only in 2026 or 2027, although there will be clarity once Bach’s successor takes charge in June.

Coe and Samaranch have welcomed the idea of an Olympics in India while Coventry, too, has expressed keenness to take the Games to previously unexplored territories.

Nita Ambani has so far been a key figure in lobbying for the Games by hosting the IOC Session in 2023, and then having the India House on the sidelines of the Paris Olympics. The government officials and the sports administrators, meanwhile, are waiting for the outcome of Thursday’s elections before they step up efforts to come up with a winning bid.