Thomas Bach facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Thomas Bach
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Bach in 2014
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| 9th President of the International Olympic Committee | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 10 September 2013 |
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| Preceded by | Jacques Rogge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 29 December 1953 Würzburg, Bavaria, West Germany |
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| Alma mater | University of Würzburg (Dr. iur. utr.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Profession | Lawyer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Thomas Bach OLY (born 29 December 1953) is a German lawyer, former foil fencer, and Olympic gold medalist. He has served as the ninth and current president of the International Olympic Committee since 2013, the first ever Olympic champion to be elected to that position. Bach is also a former German individual foil champion, and former member of the German Olympic Sports Confederation's executive board.
Contents
Early life and education
Thomas Bach was born in Würzburg. He grew up in Tauberbischofsheim, where he lived with his parents until 1977. Bach earned a doctor of law (Dr. iur. utr.) degree in 1983 at the University of Würzburg. In addition to his native German, he speaks fluent French, English and Spanish.
Fencing career
Bach is a former foil fencer, who competed for West Germany. In 1971, at 17 years of age, he won the German national junior foil championship, and a bronze medal at the Junior World Fencing Championships in Chicago, Illinois.
At the World Fencing Championships he also won a team silver medal in 1973 in Gothenburg, Sweden, a team gold medal in 1977 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a team bronze medal in 1979 in Melbourne, Australia. Bach completed his last competitive international match on 26 October 1980 in Shanghai.
He won a foil team gold medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada. On 11 November 2017, Bach was formally granted the use of the post-nominal letters "OLY".
Nationally, Bach won the 1977 and 1978 German Individual Foil Championships. He also won the 1978 European Cup of Champions of foil teams.
DOSB Presidency
Bach served as the President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), prior to becoming President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In order to run for IOC Presidency, he resigned as the head of the DOSB on 16 September 2013, having served in that position since 2006. He was replaced by Alfons Hörmann, and remained a member of the DOSB Executive Board. Additionally, he resigned as the head of Ghorfa Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Bach would, however, continue serving as the head of Michael Weinig AG Company, a company in the industrial woodworking machinery industry that has its headquarters in Bach's hometown of Tauberbischofsheim.
In 2012, Bach headed Munich's bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics. In the host city election, Munich secured 25 votes as South Korea's Pyeongchang was elected as host city with 63 votes.
IOC Presidency
On 9 May 2013, Bach confirmed that he would run for President of the International Olympic Committee.
2013 IOC presidential election
Bach was elected to an eight-year term as IOC President at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires on 10 September 2013. He secured 49 votes in the final round of voting, giving him the majority needed to be elected. He succeeded Jacques Rogge, who had served as IOC President from 2001 to 2013. Bach would be eligible to run for a second four-year term at the 134th IOC Session in 2019 until 2025.
Bach's successful election came against five other candidates: Sergey Bubka, Richard Carrión, Ng Ser Miang, Denis Oswald and Wu Ching-Kuo. The result of the election was as follows:
| Election of the 9th IOC President | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Round 1 | Round 2 |
 Thomas Bach |
43 | 49 |
 Sergey Bubka |
8 | 4 |
 Richard Carrión |
23 | 29 |
 Ng Ser Miang |
6 | 6 |
 Denis Oswald |
7 | 5 |
 Wu Ching-kuo |
6 | — |
Bach officially moved into the IOC presidential office at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 17 September 2013, a week after being elected president.
At a meeting of the 137th session of the International Olympic Committee on 10 March 2021, Bach was re-elected to an additional four-year term as president. Bach, 67, was re-elected by a 93–1 vote from 94 valid votes during the session which was held virtually due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This is Bach's final term as IOC president, as the organization's rules limit the president's term to eight years with one renewal of four years. On 10 August 2024, Bach announced that he intends to step down as IOC president when his term ends in 2025 despite being asked to stay on.
Olympic Agenda 2020
Following his election as IOC President, Bach indicated his desire to change the Olympic bidding process and make sustainable development a priority. He stated that the current bidding process "asks too much, too early". These forty proposed reforms became known as Olympic Agenda 2020; they were all unanimously approved at the 127th IOC Session in Monaco in 2014.
Olympic host city elections
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The first bidding process over which Thomas Bach presided was for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Bids were due in November 2013, and the host city, Beijing, was elected to host the 2022 Winter Olympics at the 128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in July 2015. Lausanne was elected to host the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics during that same session.
During the bidding process for the 2024 Summer Olympics in 2017, President Bach proposed a joint awarding of the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics after several bidders withdrew. The IOC later approved a plan to award the 2024 Olympics to Paris, with Los Angeles securing the right to host the 2028 Olympics. President Bach presided over the electoral procedures at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru. Both cities were unanimously elected.
Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo were elected to host the 2026 Winter Olympics at the 134th IOC Session in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2019.
Honors
State honors
Greece:
Grand Cross of the Order of the Phoenix
Poland:
1st Class of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
Russia:
Order of Honour
South Korea:
Blue Dragon (Cheongnyong) of the Order of Sports Merit
Tunisia:
Grand Cordon of the National Order of Merit (2016)
Ukraine:
5th Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise- 4th Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise
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Honorary doctorates
Spain: Doctorate honoris causa from the Universidad Católica de Murcia.
Japan: Honorary Doctorate from the University of Tsukuba.
Awards
- Seoul Peace Prize from the Republic of Korea
See also
In Spanish: Thomas Bach para niños
