International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach has been re-elected for another four-year term, receiving overwhelming support despite a long list of challenges during his eight years at the top of the movement.

The only candidate for the position at this week’s IOC Session, being held by video conference, Bach received 93 votes with one against and four abstentions.

In the press conference afterwards, he was asked to rate his performance in the role.

“It is not up to me to give myself marks,” Bach said.

“Today you could see what the IOC members are thinking about the achievements of these eight years and you could see the international community and the athletes giving their judgment and this judgment I humbly accept.

“In my second term I will follow my same style of consultation in taking the opinion of everybody into account to live up to my campaign model which I had for 2013 — ‘unity in diversity’.

“This motto will keep guiding me,” he said.

With the exception of the coronavirus, and the huge logistical task of delaying the Tokyo 2020 Games by a year, Bach was asked what his biggest challenge had been, and what he considers will be the biggest challenge in his remaining four years in charge.

“You can start with the winter games in Sochi [2014] and the Ukraine crisis during this Games and the following doping issues.

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“Rio [2016] was on the brink before and during the games and so on and so on.

“There were so many, but I think it just makes no real sense to rate them because you have to address challenges and at the beginning of the challenges you sometimes don’t even know how big the challenge in the end will be and if it will go away or fade away somehow.

“You have to take every challenge seriously and what we have done in this last eight years you have to look into every challenge in a way asking ‘where are our opportunities with these challenges?’

President Bach said the lessons from COVID-19 have not just been for the Olympic movement but the world generally, with “rich countries getting richer, poor countries getting poorer”.

He said the IOC would continue with its “remit to contribute to a better and more inclusive society”.

Despite his commitment to his adapted Olympic motto of ‘Faster, higher, stronger — together’, he says the IOC will continue to refrain from getting involved in political issues.

“Whether it’s about sustainability, whether it’s about climate change, whether it’s about credibility or you name it… we have to stick to our remits there,” he said.

With Tokyo’s delayed games fast approaching, some of the attention is also looking further afield — to next January’s Winter Olympics in Beijing.

President Bach would not comment on the detention of up to a million Uyghurs as calls intensify for nations to boycott the games on humanitarian grounds.

“We can accomplish our mission only as we have it enshrined in the Olympic charter if we respect the political neutrality.

“We have seen today how we are working with the UN system, and with so many stakeholders, all this is only possible if we stick to this political neutrality.”

The IOC will be given detailed updates on Tokyo, Beijing and the Paris 2024 Games on Friday.

The IOC president will also give more detail to the IOC members of his plans for his final four years in office.

It will be an extension of his original mandate, dubbed Agenda 2020, that included a focus on revitalising interest in hosting the Olympic Games — an agenda that is widely regarded as having succeeded.

In his final four years in office, Bach will continue to foster the IOC’s already strong relationship with the United Nations.

“This is one of the goals we are going to set on Friday, hopefully, with Olympic Agenda 2020+5 — that we are re-enforcing and strengthening our efforts how sport can be a really important enabler for achieving the UN sustainable development goals through and with sport.”



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