Thomas Bach elected as the President of International Olympic Committee

Thomas Bach of Germany on 10 September 2013 was elected as the ninth President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). He is the successor of Jacques Rogge of Belgium, who headed the IOC, since 2001 to 10 September 2013. He was the eighth President of IOC.

He was elected as the President of IOC after two rounds of votes at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The President is elected by the IOC members by secret ballot for a term of eight years, with the possibility to stand for re-election for a second, four-year term. IOC is a 119 years old sport’s governing body.

About Thomas Bach
• Bach is the first Olympic Champion to head International Olympics Committee as its President.
• He joined IOC in 1991 and has held many influential roles in the organization
• Bach aged 59 is a former executive of Adidas

His Sports Career
• He has been an Olympic champion in fencing (foil) team at the Games of the XXI Olympiad in Montreal in 1976 and 1977 world champion fencing foil team
• Winner of the 1978 European Cup of Champions; numerous national championship titles

Positions held by him in IOC
• Member (1996-2000) of the IOC Executive Board
• Vice-President (2000-2004) and was re-elected as Vice-President (2006-2013)
He has been the Chairman of the following Commissions:
• Evaluation for the XIX Olympic Winter Games (1994-1995)
• Evaluation for the Games of XXVIII Olympiad (1994-1997)

He has served as the member of the following Commissions
• Athletes’ (1981-1988)
• Press (1985-1988)
• Juridical (1993-2001)
• Olympic Collectors (1994-1997)
• Olympic Movement (1996-1999)
• Sport and Law (as Athletes’ representative, 1995-2001)
• TV Rights and New Media (2002)
• IOC 2000 Reform Follow-up (2002)
• Remuneration Working Group (2004)

Bach was chosen as the President over fellow Presidential candidates namely; Sergey Bubka (Ukraine), Richard Carrion (Puerto Rico), Ser Miang Ng (Singapore), Denis Oswald (Switzerland) and Ching-kuo Wu (Chinese Taipei).