The IOC votes for a new president, and Samaranch is one of the favorites.

BarcelonaThe International Olympic Committee (IOC) will elect a new president this Thursday. He will be the tenth on a list that began with Greek Dimitrios Vikelas in 1894. The election of the new president will take place this Thursday, during the second day of the 144th IOC Session, which has been held since Wednesday at the Costa Navarino Hotel in Greece, an hour's drive from the ancient Olympia archaeological site. Seven candidates are running in the elections, with the possibility of seeing a woman elected president for the first time: Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry, who is also the youngest of the candidates. However, the two big favorites are men. One of them, Catalan Joan Antoni Samaranch y Salisachs, is well positioned to try to emulate the success of his father, elected IOC president in 1980. Never have two members of the same family held that position. His main rival should be Britain's Sebastian Coe, without forgetting Coventry.

Who's introducing themselves?

In addition to Samaranch, one of the other candidates is Briton Sebastian Coe (68 years old), who was an Olympic champion in the 1,500 meters in 1980 and 1984, a key figure in organizing the 2012 London Olympic Games and current president of World Athletics, the international athletics federation. Former Zimbabwean swimmer Kirsty Coventry (41 years old) won 7 Olympic medals and is the youngest candidate, with university training in the United States and a few recent years working within the IOC in the area of athletes.

Frenchman David Lappartient (51 years old) also presents a renewed bet, with an image reinforced by the successful Games in Paris in 2024. He is currently the president of the International Cycling Union. Japanese Morinario Watanabe (66 years old) presides over the International Gymnastics Federation and seems the candidate with the least chance because he has defended a strange idea: holding the Olympic Games with five venues at the same time, on five continents. Jordanian Prince Feisal Al-Hussein (61 years old), current member of the IOC Executive Board, is a man with extensive experience in sport. Trained in the United Kingdom, he could be the chosen one. And finally, there is the Swede with a British passport Johan Eliasch (63 years old), current president of the International Winter Sports Federation and in theory with few options, since he joined the IOC only in 2024 and is still unknown.

According to the rules, at 70 years old one must leave the Olympic movement, although if chosen, the oldest could exhaust a first term of eight years, without being able to seek re-election. This affects Samaranch, Coe, Watanabe, and Eliasch. It's worth remembering that the IOC President serves an initial eight-year term, which can be extended for a maximum of four more. Whoever wins, incidentally, won't take office until June 24, the day Bach's farewell ceremony.

Everyone is aspiring to succeed German Thomas Bach, who is stepping down after leading from 2013 to 2025. Bach hasn't publicly positioned himself, although rumors suggest he would like to see a change in the IOC with a figure like Coventry, who would be the first woman and the first African. It would be a revolution. But Samaranch and Coe appear to be better positioned, playing the card of experience, just as this is a time of political upheaval, which requires sharpening the weapons of the art of diplomacy.

The IOC, in fact, is paying close attention to what might happen at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, with Trump in the White House. In fact, several representatives of the Republican Party recently wrote a letter to the IOC asking it to align with Trump's policies regarding transgender athletes, banning their presence in women's sports. Other key points include the situation in Russian sports, which is still excluded from the Olympic family.

Coe has been the most active in the press and events arena, relentlessly pursuing his goals. The English press supports him, with articles describing Samaranch as the "son of a fascist" in reference to his father's responsibilities during the dictatorship. However, Coe is polarizing. He's either very popular or not at all, with ideas like giving more prize money to those who win medals.

Samaranch advocates the opposite, namely, sharing the prize money among all the athletes. The Barcelona native has hardly any experience as an athlete; he's more of a manager. He was a member of the board of directors of the Spanish Pentathlon Federation, has been involved with golf and motorsports, but hasn't competed like some of his opponents. But he has the advantage of being the one who has been at the IOC the longest, having been elected in 2001. He has a background in financial management in the United States and Catalonia and good contacts with a major player like China, because he was elected President of the IOC Coordination Commission for the Beijing Winter Games, where he was one of the smallest. The 2006, 2014, and 2022 Winter Olympics, he also served as a member of the Marketing Commission, the TV Rights Commission, the Olympic Solidarity Commission, the Communications Commission, and the Delegate Member for TV Rights.

"I have been on the IOC Executive Board and on some Coordination Commissions for over 10 years. I have a great understanding of its internal workings. We are talking about an entity that must adapt to changes, defend values, but also be managed as an exemplary company, given the number of people I work with. After 30 years, it has offices on three continents," he said in the ARA Samaranch a few weeks ago, who aspires to be seen as a consensus figure, someone with experience who knows everyone and can earn the votes of the candidates who are eliminated in the first rounds.

How do you vote?

Managing the IOC involves diplomacy, but also controlling an economic giant that generated $7.7 billion in revenue between 2021 and 2024, for example. Samaranch is trying to use his experience in economic management, in fact, to win votes in an election with a complicated voting system. Complex, since fewer than 100 people vote, making it difficult to know who might emerge the winner. In the vote this Thursday at around 4 p.m., there will be a first round where it is estimated that only 92 people will vote. To be elected in this first round, you will need 47 votes. Who are those 92 votes? Well, they are part of the 109 members of the International Olympic Committee at this time. Only 92 of the 109 are eligible to vote, as the same seven candidates must be removed from the list, as well as Thomas Bach, who cannot vote, and the members who share nationality with the candidates: three French, two British, two Japanese, and two Spanish, one of them Pau Gasol.

If the first round ends in no winner, the person with the fewest votes will be eliminated, and a new vote will be held with six. When a candidate is eliminated, they will still not be able to vote in the next round. If, for example, Watanabe is eliminated, the other two Japanese delegates would be allowed to vote in the next round. This will continue until one candidate obtains an absolute majority. Thomas Bach, by the way, will only vote in the event of a final tie.

Who votes?

The IOC can have a maximum of 115 members, who can enter through different channels: one is to be a continental representative, as would be the case with the representative of all European Olympic Committees, the Greek Spyros Capralos, or the Chilean Neven Ilic on behalf of the American committees. A second route is through representatives of the Athletes' Commission, as is currently the case with former Catalan basketball player Pau Gasol or the Northern Catalan skier Martin Fourcade. Both cannot vote, as there are Spanish and French candidates. Other ways to join the IOC include being president of important federations such as athletics (COE), gymnastics (Watanabe), cycling (Lappartient), or football (Gianni Infantino). However, they can also be chosen individually, as would be the case with Samaranch, based on merit within the IOC. Of the 92 delegates who vote, 33 are European, 19 American, 16 Asian, 17 African and 7 from Oceania, with gender equality: 47 men and 45 women.

The vote will be the star moment of this 144th Session of the organization, as it has also proposed the inclusion of boxing in the sports program of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. This sport was excluded from the Games due to the disqualification of the International Association of Boxa (IBA) for corruption, but has taken the path to reconèixer a new federation, the World Boxing, which would allow the sport to remain on the Olympic calendar.