World Athletics president Seb Coe during an interview at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) presidential election will be held on Thursday during the 144th IOC Session that runs from today to Friday in Costa Navarino, Greece.
Seven candidates have thrown their hats in the ring. They include Prince Feisal Al Hussein (IOC member from Jordan), David Lappartient (International Cycling Union president from France), Johan Eliasch (International Ski and Snowboard Federation president from Britain) and Juan Antonio Samaranch (IOC Member from Spain).
Others are Kirsty Coventry (IOC Member and Minister of Sport from Zimbabwe), Sebastien Coe (World Athletics president from Britain) and Morinari Watanabe (International Gymnastics Federation president from Japan).
Notably, there is one candidate from Africa and the only female contender, Coventry a former Olympic swimmer.
The candidates were allowed, for the first and only time, to present their manifesto to the IOC members during the most recent Extraordinary IOC Session in January 2025 in Lausanne.
Most manifestos highlight the need to maintain the universality and neutrality of sports, while leveraging technological growth. Notably, three candidates expressly indicated support of hosting the Olympics in Africa – Lappartient, Al Hussein and Coventry.
While on the subject of hosting the Olympics, Morinari is pushing an extremely interesting concept. He presents that instead of compact Games, the Olympics should be held on five continents, simultaneously over 24 hours.
This, he mentions, will reduce the financial burden on the host country, reach more people in the respective continents, and increase broadcast and commercial activities.
The 109 IOC members carry a vote each which is cast secretly. Kenya has two IOC members, Paul Tergat, the NOC-K president and Humphrey Kayange. Kipchoge Keino is an Honorary Member, who can attend the Session, but has no vote.
To win, a candidate must receive an absolute majority of the votes, that is at least 55 votes. The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated from each subsequent round until a candidate achieves the absolute majority.
Africa has 16 IOC members. If the votes are closely contested, Africa could play a pivotal role as swing voters, assuming their votes align in one direction.
The new President will be elected in principle for a term of eight years unless he or she loses IOC membership before the end of the term because of the age limit (70 years old).
The IOC operations are affected a lot by geopolitics and emerging challenges. The ideal candidate, therefore, must have the capacity to engage at the highest level of diplomacy and manage the complex political structure.
Notably, promoting clean sport is a major issue for the IOC, which led it to lobby and support the creation of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) to uphold the integrity of sport and protect clean athletes.
Thus, we have seen candidates interact with heads of state and other influential world leaders. High-level lobbying was done to get the support of the highest offices. Coe is the only candidate who visited Kenya to lobby support for his candidature.
The president should have the business acumen to secure or enhance the funding of the Olympic movement.
Additionally, the president should be firm and uphold inclusion, autonomy of sports and neutrality in politics.
Most importantly, the candidate should have a forward-looking vision, capable of anticipating trends and leading the movement in leveraging digitalization and technology, which poses challenges to traditional sports.
Engaging youth will be crucial for maintaining sports participation and consumption.
The winning candidate's impact on Africa, in particular, sub-Saharan Africa, will be of great interest.
Sport in Africa is challenged by world sports policies, including qualification pathways to the Olympics, the spread of revenue to athletes in the second or third tier of elite sports, and sports development through International Federations – geographical location and proximity to each other favouring others in getting resources, competitions, and opportunities.
Notably, boxing, which enjoys significant popularity across Africa and Kenya and is a key Olympic event, is facing challenges due to ethics and politics.
The IOC executive board on Monday recommended the inclusion of boxing in the Los Angeles 2028 summer Olympics. The representation of boxing on the global stage has been shaky in recent years. How it is managed will be important for Africa.
Kenya is a leading Olympic nation in Africa and the next president of IOC will be of great interest to the country.
The incoming president will impact Africa more by upholding the solidarity of the movement and equitable distribution of IOC resources.
Africa is a great beneficiary of the Olympic Solidarity (OS) funds – supporting Olympic participation costs, scholarships, team grants, and capacity building of athletes and athlete support personnel.
Francis Mutuku is the secretary general of NOC-K
