PARIS, August 10, 2024 - The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach has told the IOC Session on Saturday that he will not be extending his term in office despite some members urging him to stay on.

Bach, who has been in charge since 2013, concludes his second term in 2025. “New times are calling for new leaders,” the German lawyer said, expressing his decision to respect the Olympic charter, that he himself had helped draft, which allows a maximum of 12 years - a first eight-year term and a second four-year term.

While no member has publicly declared their intention to succeed Bach, an Olympic fencing champion in 1976, the new IOC president will be elected in March 2025 at the IOC session in ancient Olympia and will take over three months later in June.

BACH'S SPEECH:

Dear friends and colleagues,

At the end of this session, the IOC Ethics Commission has allowed me to inform you about my personal situation with regard to my term as your president.

GRATITUDE During and even more, since our last session in Mumbai, 2023, so many of you have asked me to have my mandate extended and to agree with the change of the Olympic Charter for this purpose. My first comment on this was to emphasise my loyalty to the Olympic Charter. At the same time, I expressed my great appreciation and gratitude for showing such great confidence in me. My respect for each and every one of you, my dear friends and colleagues, is too great that I would not listen, consider and discuss issues of your personal concerns, personally with you. Each and every of these many conversations have impressed me deeply, have touched my heart, and I greatly appreciate all the comments and arguments you have made.

NO EXTENSION OF TERM LIMIT As a result of deep deliberations and extensive discussions, also with my family present here in the room, I have come to the conclusion that I should not have my mandate extended beyond the term limit stimulated by the Olympic Charter. In order to safeguard the credibility of the IOC, we all, and in particular, I as your president, have to respect the high standards of good governance which we have set for ourselves. I was one of the promoters and authors of such a term limit at the time of the revision of the Olympic Charter. Until today, I strongly believe that after 12 years in the office as IOC president, our organisation is best served with a change in leadership.

CHANGE OR BE CHANGED During all these years, you, my dear colleagues and friends, have always followed the mantra I pronounced when introducing the Olympic agenda, "change or be changed". This mantra does not only apply to the comprehensive and far reaching reforms we have undertaken together. This mantra also applies to me. But to the many thoughts you have expressed about the future of our Olympic Movement in all these conversations, I owe you answers which must go beyond legal and governance issues.

UNCERTAINTIES Your major concerns are about the political, geopolitical, social, economic uncertainties and about the relevance of the IOC in our divisive world. With regard to our relationship with the world of politics, we are indeed in a situation where political leaders want to pull us on their political side. Political pressure groups push us to make statements serving their particular interests, and many others trying to misuse our worldwide, so successful, stage for their purposes. All this is proof of our highly increased relevance in politics and society. We have to adapt to this new emerging world order by embracing a trustful dialogue with the established and the rising political powers, in particular with the ever more influential, so called Global South. To achieve this, we have to show that in our Olympic world, there is no Global south or Global North. We have to be a truly global organisation. We have to reflect the diversity of this world. Such trustful dialogue requires the proven political leadership skills which we have in our membership. We have among us, ministers, heads of state, leaders in important intergovernmental organisations. We have a very skillful executive board and with you, my dear friends and colleagues, a high quality membership. Such a trustful dialogue with the ever more fragmented world of politics can only be successful if we are considered to defend the best interests of the athletes of the world, and if we are supported by them.

TRUSTFUL DIALOGUE To continue the meanwhile established direct, close, trustful dialogue with the athletes is therefore essential for our credibility. All these opportunities and challenges to maintain our relevance and high standards of credibility will not be different in two or four or even eight years from now. What will be very different, however, are the opportunities and challenges for sport in the digital revolution.

DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT What we have been doing in this respect, with regard to digital engagement with our Olympic Artificial Intelligence agenda, with the creation of the Olympic eSports Games, has been proactive, has been living up to our "change or be changed" mantra, but this is just the beginning. To implement effectively all these projects, to address the technological tsunami of converging sciences like AI, biochemistry and neuroscience, you need to be immersed in this digital world. You need to really participate in this digital world. You need to have a deep understanding of these new ways of thinking and communicating. Otherwise you cannot safely navigate our Olympic Movement ship through the high waves of this tsunami.

NEW TIMES, NEW LEADERS For this new way of living, I, with my age, I am not the best captain. New times are calling for new leaders.

I know that with this decision, I'm disappointing many of you. I can only plead to you to respect that I'm deeply convinced this to be in the best interest of our beloved Olympic Movement. You all know me, and therefore you know that this Olympic Movement, its athletes and its values have and always will be central to my thinking and close to my heart. This is why it goes without saying for me that I want to ensure a smooth transition to hand over the steering wheel of our ship to my best possible successor, whom you will choose.

To facilitate this, I will ask the executive board to schedule the election for March 2025, and the beginning of the mandate of the new president for June 24, 2025. Please rest assured that until this date, I will continue to dedicate all my energy and passion to the Olympic movement. 

ROBUST STABILITY For this new term, we all can benefit from the robust stability the IOC enjoys for years to come. We have selected hosts for the Olympic Games, 2028 and 2032. For the Olympic Games 2036, and even 2040 we have a sound two digit number of interested parties already today. We have selected the hosts for the Olympic Winter Games. 2026, 2030 and even 2034.

Even during the pandemic, during global economic downturns, and throughout the too many wars and their consequences, we are enjoying robust financial stability. Already now we have secured revenues in the amount of 7.3 billion US dollars for the next Olympiad 2025 to 2028. Even for the Olympiad 2029 to 2032 we have already secured $6.2 billion and the pipeline is full.

We could only lead our Olympic Movement to this high degree of stability by being united. This unity, in all our diversity, is the foundation for our success. Divided, this stability will fall apart. As we look to the future, we must do everything in our power to preserve this unity in all our diversity. If and whenever the new president thinks it to be helpful, I would always be at your disposal with all my passion for our beloved Olympic movement. Thank you again, my dear friends and colleagues, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support, your confidence, your trust, and most of all your friendship. And now it is again up to you to change before we are being changed by the digital revolution. I thank you.