Thomas Bach is preparing to leave IOC Top Job with a “clear conscience” after 12 years

As he approached his last week in the best job in the sports world, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, feels relaxed.

When a new president is elected to the birth of the International Olympic Committee on Thursday, and Bach is officially left in June, this will be with a “clear conscience”, as the outgoing president told reporters this week inside a Greek resort, where members of the International Olympic Committee will choose behind him.

“It is the period during all of my presidency, where I do not face an existential problem for the Olympic movement or the Olympic Games on my office,” said Bach, who has held the first job in global sport since 2013.

These challenges ranged from a global pandemic that affects two separate Olympic games, war and conflict, and the Russian doping scandal that came out of the 2014 games in Sochi. Bach dealt with the latter, in particular, to criticism, as Russian athletes are still able to compete in games as neutral athletes.

But Bach is left in a high note after completing the negotiations NBC Rights of Rights NBC worth 3 billion USD And games in Paris felt like the return of the spirit of the Olympic Games.

Bach said he did not think that behind him he would face a lot of uncertainty as he did when he began to delegate more than a decade ago.

But this person has a long list of challenges to be faced, starting with climate change. Severe heat and warming temperatures It threatens the future of the summer and winter OlympicsSomething more than 400 athletes, including more than 20 Canadians, Last week, he confirmed in a letter to presidential candidates IOC.

“Our political neutrality must be respected”

Bach advised him to keep athletes in the heart of the Olympic movement and focus on the unit. He said that doing this requires to ensure that more than 200 national Olympic committees are treated equally and the International Olympic Committee is still politically neutral.

Without this, Bach said that the Olympic Games will become “another policy tool to divide this world more.”

Watch | A look at the first place who can succeed Bach:

In an interview broadcast on CNN todayBach was asked whether a political leader should try to influence sports regulations, noting that US President Donald Trump, who prohibits sexually transformed women and girls from competing in sports categories. It is something that the president of the International Olympic Committee will have to move as Los Angeles is preparing to host the 2028 Summer Olympic Games.

“World leaders are free to provide any comment about everything,” Bach told CNN. “What we say is that we will need a dialogue, then in this dialogue, our independence and political neutrality must be respected.”

The International Olympic Committee for HD athletes does not prevent competition and discriminates about sexual identity or sexual differences, although every international union can set its own rules according to sport.

Bach also told the CNN that he believed that a lot of controversy over two boxers, Iman Khalif and Lin Yu Ting, at the Olympic Games in Paris, ignited the Russian discrimination campaign. He said that the attacks began after the International Committee of the International Boxing Association, which is run by Omar Karmiv, the Russian, was suspended due to financial issues, governance and governance.

He once again emphasized that neither KHELIF nor a transgender soft.

“They were born as women,” Bach said on CNN. “They grew up as women. They were competing as women. They lost bouts and won bouts. They competed in the Olympic Games in Tokyo without any noise.”

on monday, IOC’s Executive Council, including boxing on the Olympic Program 2028 After recognizing a new board of directors, global boxing. Members of the International Olympic Committee will have to sign this decision this week.

The elections were appointed for Thursday

IOC opened its 144th session on Tuesday in ancient Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games more than 2800 years ago.

In his speech at the opening ceremony, Bach described him as “a sacred pilgrimage to our old past” and “a manifestation of our faith in the future.”

This future will come to a clearer focus on the local time on Thursday afternoon (10 am East time), when about 100 members of IOC start voting for the next president. Only one Canadian – Trechia Smith, head of the Canadian Olympic Committee – will vote.

“This presidency will play a role in updating the Olympic Movement, including the ongoing digital transformation, youth participation, and long -term financial stability on the principles of the Olympic Charter represented in non -discrimination, clean play and solidarity,” Smith said in a written statement of CBC.

“This is a moment to find new ways to include in the unique Power Power Sport that it brings, which seems more important than ever now.”

The election process led to questions about transparency. Each public candidate, but his only presentation of members of the International Olympic Committee has occurred unilaterally and cannot be photographed.

The world’s athletics president Sebastian Co, one of the candidates competing for their stipulated, told reporters in January that the operation should be reviewed.

“It is really important to understand the membership of nature, style and people who put themselves forward,” Ko said. “This can only be done with personal interaction.”

The same vote also occurs behind closed doors by secret voting. The next president will be announced as soon as the candidate will achieve most of the votes.

Seven people in voting. COE, along with the IOC CEO for a long time, Juan Antonio Samranch Jr. The Olympic Kerste Coventry is seen by many first place.

You can read more about the candidates and the people who elect them and the issues at risk here.