The 59-year-old is one of six men vying to succeed Jacques Rogge as International Olympic Committee (IOC) president. PHOTO: AFP
MOSCOW:
Thomas Bach, a gold medallist in the 1976 Olympics in the team foil fencing competition, is the favourite to be elected to the most powerful political position in sports next month.
The 59-year-old is one of six men vying to succeed Jacques Rogge as International Olympic Committee (IOC) president.
Bach’s desire to become involved in sports politics, he told AFP, was provoked by the dismissive way politicians at the time treated the athletes’ concerns over the boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow brought about because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. “The boycott was the turning point for me from being an athlete to entering sports politics,” said Bach.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 16th, 2013.
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