LONDON (AP) – Thomas Bach has been moving at breakneck speed in his first year as IOC president. Yet even he didn’t expect to secure support for his Olympic reforms so quickly.
It’s been a manic 12 months for Bach, who was elected on Sept. 10, 2013, in Buenos Aires as the ninth president of the International Olympic Committee, succeeding Jacques Rogge. He marks the anniversary on Wednesday at IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The 60-year-old German has overseen the Winter Olympics in Sochi, traveled the globe to meet sports and political leaders (81 heads of state and government, according to the IOC), set up a $20 million fund to fight doping and match-fixing, and struck 13 broadcast and sponsorship deals worth $10 billion – including a record $7.75 billion deal with NBC for U.S. TV rights through 2032. He recently returned from China, where he presided over the Youth Olympics in Nanjing.
“It’s been pretty dynamic,” Bach said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “There was a lot going on. At the same time, it was a very, very encouraging first year.”
Most surprising, he said, was how IOC members and others lined up so swiftly behind his “Olympic Agenda 2020.” The roadmap – to be voted on by the full IOC membership in December – envisions a more flexible Olympic bidding process and sports program, lower costs for hosting the games, and creation of an Olympic television channel.