State Duma deputy Svetlana Zhurova believes that Russia will not have anything good to look forward to under the next president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Zhurova expressed this opinion to TASS.
On Saturday, Bach announced that he would not seek re-election as head of the IOC. The election of the president of the International Olympic Committee will be held in March 2025 at the organization’s session in Greece.
“It is very important who will be elected. We will not have anything good from the candidates I know. They say one thing publicly and adhere to a tough agenda regarding Russia, pure politics. Bach was also initially positive towards us, but the attitude has changed. Bach has become an ambiguous IOC president in relation to us,” Zhurova said.
“[Sebastian] Coe (the president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, a Briton) as a candidate has a negative attitude towards Russia, as does the government of his country. Although he, as a participant in the 1980 Olympics, should be positive about our country, but no, on the contrary. On the other hand, life is different, I know that he has good relations with some people in our country. Maybe everything will be the other way around,” the TASS interlocutor added. Bach is 70 years old, he was elected IOC president for an eight-year term in 2013, in 2021 he was re-elected for a four-year term. During Bach’s presidency of the IOC, Russian sport was subject to sanctions several times, most recently after the start of a special military operation in Ukraine. Russian athletes were banned from international competitions in 2022, and in March 2023 it was recommended that they be allowed to participate in tournaments only as neutral athletes and only on the condition that they are not associated with the armed forces and do not represent team sports. Fifteen Russian athletes competed at the Paris Olympics.