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Thomas Bach
OLY
Thomas Bach (13951010204).jpg
Bach in 2014
9th President of the International Olympic Committee
Assumed office
10 September 2013
Preceded by Jacques Rogge
Personal details
Born (1953-12-29) 29 December 1953 (age 70)
Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany
Alma mater University of Würzburg (Dr. iur. utr.)
Profession Lawyer
Signature
Thomas Bach
Personal information
Height 171 cm
Weight 65 kg
Sport
Sport Fencing
Club Fencing-Club Tauberbischofsheim
Medal record
Representing  West Germany
Olympic Games
Gold 1976 Montréal Foil, team
World Championships
Gold 1977 Buenos Aires Foil, team
Silver 1973 Gothenburg Foil, team
Bronze 1979 Melbourne Foil, team

Thomas Bach OLY (born 29 December 1953) is a German lawyer, former Olympic foil fencer, and Olympic foil team gold medalist. He has been serving 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. Bach is a highly controversial figure due to: his extraordinarily well paid consulting activities for Siemens; his activities for the controversial Arab-German Chamber of Commerce; his ties with the undemocratic government of Azerbaijan, and his ties with Vladimir Putin.

Early life and education

Thomas Bach was born in 1953 in Würzburg, West Germany. 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 from the University of Würzburg. He speaks fluent French, English, Spanish and German.

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

2017-03-06 Wohnhaus von Thomas Bach von 1953 bis 1977 am Sonnenplatz in Tauberbischofsheim - 2
Sign at the house of Thomas Bach, where he lived in 1953–1977, at the Sonnenplatz in Tauberbischofsheim

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

Hotel Lausanne Palace
Like his predecessors Juan Antonio Samaranch and Jacques Rogge, Thomas Bach stays in the Lausanne Palace when he is in Lausanne

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 succeeds Jacques Rogge who served as IOC President from 2001 to 2013. Bach will 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
Germany Thomas Bach 43 49
Ukraine Sergey Bubka 8 4
Puerto Rico Richard Carrión 23 29
Singapore Ng Ser Miang 6 6
Switzerland Denis Oswald 7 5
Chinese Taipei 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. This will be Bach's final term as IOC President, as IOC rules limits the president's term to eight years with one renewal of four years.

Olympic Agenda 2020

Following his election as IOC President, Bach stated that he wished to change the Olympic bidding process and make sustainable development a priority. He stated that he felt that the current bidding process asks "too much, too early". These proposed reforms became known as Olympic Agenda 2020. These forty proposed reforms were all unanimously approved at the 127th IOC Session in Monaco.

Olympic host city elections

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.

COVID-19 pandemic

On 5 March 2020, Bloomberg News reported that Bach said "Neither the word ‘cancellation’ nor the word ‘postponement’ was even mentioned" regarding the 2020 Summer Olympics to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic at the IOC’s executive board meeting the previous day. On 22 March 2020, the IOC announced that within four weeks a decision would be made on whether Tokyo 2020 will be staged as planned or whether a rescheduling is necessary. Canada announced its withdrawal from the Games later that day, and Australia did the same on 23 March in protest against the IOC's refusal to postpone the Olympics in light of the pandemic. Later in the month, the IOC announced the unprecedented postponement of the Olympics until 23 July - 8 August 2021.

Olga Kharlan incident

Since July 1, 2020 (and reconfirmed by FIE public notice in September 2020 and in January 2021), by public written notice the FIE had replaced its previous handshake requirement with a "salute" by the opposing fencers, and written in its public notice that handshakes were "suspended until further notice." Nevertheless, in July 2023 when Ukrainian four-time world fencing individual sabre champion Olga Kharlan was disqualified at the World Fencing Championships by the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime for not shaking the hand of her defeated Russian opponent, though Kharlan instead offered a tapping of blades in acknowledgement, Bach stepped in the next day. As President of the IOC, he sent a letter to Kharlan in which he expressed empathy for her, and wrote that in light of the situation she was being guaranteed a spot in the 2024 Summer Olympics. He wrote further: "as a fellow fencer, it is impossible for me to imagine how you feel at this moment. The war against your country, the suffering of the people in Ukraine, the uncertainty around your participation at the Fencing World Championships ... and then the events which unfolded yesterday - all this is a roller coaster of emotions and feelings. It is admirable how you are managing this incredibly difficult situation, and I would like to express my full support to you. Rest assured that the IOC will continue to stand in full solidarity with the Ukrainian athletes and the Olympic community of Ukraine."

Honours

State honours

  •  Greece:
    • GRE Order of the Phoenix - Grand Cross BAR.png Grand Cross of the Order of the Phoenix
  •  Poland:
    • POL Order Zaslugi RP kl1 BAR.svg 1st Class of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
  •  Russia:
    • Orden of Honour.png Order of Honour
  •  South Korea:
    • ROK Order of Sports Merit Cheongnyong (1st Class) ribbon.png Blue Dragon (Cheongnyong) of the Order of Sports Merit
  •  Tunisia:
    • TN Order Merit Rib.png Grand Cordon of the National Order of Merit (2016)
  •  Ukraine:
    • Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise 4th and 5th Class of Ukraine.png 5th Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise
    • Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise 4th and 5th Class of Ukraine.png 4th Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise

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

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Thomas Bach para niños

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