The opening ceremony has been described as fluid and the IOC has adapted to this fluidity and all in all it is also understandable: life requires that nowadays everyone, person or organization, be a bit of a chameleon.
Thomas Bach, the president of the IOC, has brought forward his usual end-of-Games press conference to today, effectively avoiding being able to animate another at the end of tomorrow’s IOC Session, when there will certainly be talk of the balance of this exceptional edition of the Games and perhaps an attempt will be made to make an exception to the rule, modifying the Olympic Charter, to allow Bach to continue his work of defending sport, which at this moment is certainly not easy.
Jokingly, the president said that he is not aware of any new appointment with the media because this matter is in the hands of the IOC spokesman Marc Adams…
SHAKE THE TREE – In the last session in Mumbai, Mustapha Berraf, president of the Association of African Olympic Committees, suddenly asked to speak and argued that it was necessary to find a way for Bach to continue to maintain the presidency in this difficult period, overcoming the barriers of the Olympic Charter. A vote was not requested, but the operation was: “shake the tree” to see how many fruits fall on the ground and count them.
THE WHISPERS – Now, since the beginning of these Games, in the 5-star circles, people have only been talking about this: what path will he take: will he say that next year he will thank and leave the place to his successor or will he accept a change to the Olympic Charter, which considers the possibility that in exceptional conditions the rule of two reigning mandates can be overcome? There is also the third solution, more legal, of simply changing the rule and allowing re-election for a third term.
FANTASIES – Some argue that all these are fanciful conjectures, because the problem does not exist: Bach has finished his cycle and has accepted this reality. But then why did he answer a specific question on this topic: “I cannot talk about this, the ethics commission requires it.” If he had accepted the end of his mandate, he could have spoken calmly because the Ethics Commission in that case could not suggest any behavior to him.
FLUIDITY – The Ethics Commission itself here, in this fascinating Paris, seems to have become rather fluid, in fact it did not lift a finger when the Session decided to assign the 2030 Winter Games to the French Alps right here, when a few years ago a Session was scheduled in Milan, but due to the fact that a decision had to be made for the 2026 Olympics and Milan-Cortina was a candidate, the Session was moved to Lausanne. Here they said that there was impartiality because it was the only candidate, but the current system of selection of candidates is quite fluid…
HYPOTHESIS – If Bach were to continue beyond 2025, this would mean the end of the dreams of some of those who aspire to succeed him, those older like Sebastian Coe and Juan Antonio Samaranch junior, and could favor the rising star: the fifty-one-year-old Frenchman David Lappartient, president of the UCI and a skilled politician, who in the event of Bach’s abandonment could still be the favorite after the success of these Games. The going gets tough.
BAN – The Ivory Tower in which the IOC “lives” in Paris is not open to us, we have not had access to their hotel for the first time. The fancy excuse is that the lobby is too small. It is not exactly so, but the ban is a sign of weakness.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Sports Press Association (AIPS).
