DPA
Paris
Thomas Bach said on Saturday he will step down as International Olympic Committee (IOC) president in 2025 and won’t seek another term for which the Olympic Charter would have to be changed.
Bach made the announcement at the IOC Session on the penultimate day of the Paris Olympics, saying the Olympic Movement is “best served with a change of leadership.
“New times are calling for new leaders,” Bach said.
The German was elected in 2013 for an eight-year term and earned another four-year term in 2021.
According to the charter no more than 12 years at the top of the world’s most important sports organization are allowed.
But at last year’s session several IOC members had asked for a change of the charter and Bach to stay longer.
Bach said at the time he was humbled by the proposals but said it the same time he respected the charter.
The IOC ethics committee had asked Bach to not speak out on the issue until the end of the Paris Games, because a statement in any direction could have overshadowed the Games.
The new IOC president will be elected at next year’s Session in Athens.
No one has publicly expressed an intention to run for the presidency but World Athletics president Sebastian Coe and Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, the son of long-time IOC boss Juan Antonio Samaranch, have may be potential candidates.
