How Lord Seb Coe is gearing up for the toughest race of his life: Inside the secretive and strange battle to succeed Thomas Bach as IOC president, writes RIATH AL-SAMARRAI
How Lord Seb Coe is gearing up for the toughest race of his life: Inside the secretive and strange battle to succeed Thomas Bach as IOC president, writes RIATH AL-SAMARRAI
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If the cardinals of the Vatican thought they cornered the market on secretive elections, then perhaps they had not factored on how the International Olympic Committee choose their president. The key staging post in that battle will play out here in Lausanne on Thursday, where the seven candidates to replace Thomas Bach, including Lord Sebastian Coe, have gathered for their sole opportunity to address the members of the IOC en masse before March’s vote.
![[The seven candidates to replace Thomas Bach (above), including Coe, have gathered for their sole opportunity to address the members of the IOC en masse before March’s vote]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/29/18/94648799-14339127-image-m-12_1738174559414.jpg)
For Coe, it is the toughest race of his life and certainly the strangest, given the stringency of the rules for those running, with the cast including a Jordanian prince, the son of a former IOC ruler and Zimbabwean sports minister. The quirks of the process are quite startling.
![[French president of world cycling David Lappartient is among the list of runners and riders]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/29/18/94648645-14339127-image-a-6_1738174236703.jpg)
For one, the cohort has been banned from holding debates or offering any critique of a rival’s policies across the past two months. In Lausanne, the oddities extend further to the regulations around the all-important speeches to the members. Upon arrival at Olympic House from 9am onwards, each of the seven will be required to hand over their phones before they are escorted to a private room with up to three aides. When it is their turn to speak, they will then be led to the auditorium and given a rigid 15-minute window to sell their candidacy – what they say and how well they say it will be a mystery to the outside world, as filming is strictly prohibited, as are journalists.
For an organisation that has long faced criticisms for its lack of transparency, it would seem Bach was in no mood to improve perceptions on his way out of the IOC door. One of the candidates, Prince Feisal of Jordan, has already broken ranks to condemn the nature of the process.
