(ATR) Thomas Bach says he feels "like an athlete before the start of a final" ahead of next week’s meeting that will bring reforms to the Olympic Movement.
Asked if he was "nervous or cool" about the Dec. 8-9 Extraordinary Session, which is setting out the strategic roadmap for the IOC, the German turned to an athlete’s analogy.
"You have been training and preparing for more than a year now and you are really longing for the moment when the competition starts," he told a press conference in Monaco that wrapped up a two-day IOC Executive Board meeting.
"When the Session starts, this is not nervousness but the pre-start feeling of an athlete when you finally come to the moment, when it’s about the real thing and not about the training any more."
Bach used his opening remarks at the press briefing to talk about the importance of Olympic Agenda 2020, underscoring the widespread support for the reforms from federations and NOCs.
Forty recommendations will be put to a vote at the Session. Bach confirmed they would be discussed, including any amendments, and voted on one by one.
The chairs of the 14 working groups, who produced the recommendations following several meetings this year, will each present their cluster of proposals before voting takes place by a show of hands.
The "half a dozen" reforms that require Olympic Charter changes would need a two-thirds majority to be approved.
Bach indicated that he hoped discussions about each recommendation wouldn’t get caught up in too much time-consuming debate about any amendments.
He said he didn’t want to end up "discussing about semi colons and bullet points but that we are really discussing the strategy line for the IOC".
With 40 recommendations to get through over two days, was he putting any time allocation on discussions for each one?
"We have to see how it goes. There is no time limit being set here," he said.
"The members have discussed all the issues many, many times. I do not expect we are getting into trouble with regard to the time limit of the session."
When asked by Around the Rings which recommendations he expected to stimulate the most debate, Bach declined to single out specific proposals.
However, it seems likely that the reforms to the bidding procedure and sports program will generate the most intense debate.
Bach said he did not know how discussions would go at the IOC Session in Sochi February, saying there were Plans A, B and C but there are "certain dynamics in such as session". There were 211 interventions at the meeting in the Black Sea resort.
"The difference here is that every member had the opportunity to contribute and express his or her opinion – and not only once but several times," the IOC chief said, noting that the contributions had come in via the internet and various meetings including the 14 working commissions, the Olympic Summit and IOC ExecutiveBoard.
Anticipating that the 40 reforms might be passed within the two-days allocated for next week’s session, he said: "We gave the members the best opportunity to contribute and express themselves, so this may also
influence the debate in the extraordinary session".
"We have a long procedure behind us and now I am really looking forward to decision time."
Agenda 2020 Impact on Future Olympics
Amid financial problems for Pyeongchang 2018 and Tokyo 2020’s failure to lock down a venue plan for their Games, Bach said the reforms passed next week would be used to spur developments in the two Olympic cities.
"We are in discussions with both organisations about the follow-up on the potential opportunities which Olympic Agenda 2020 would offer to them," he told the news conference.
"Here again, if the changes would be approved and more flexibility would be possible then we will start the implementation of this Olympic Agenda 2020 right after the approval," Bach added.
IOC project reviews will take place in both organizing cities in January and February, he said, "to follow-up on this".
Speaking about PyeongChang 2018’s troubles, Bach did not rule out events taking place in Seoul.
"The organizing committee told us they would deliver on time and on budget. At same time what is true for Tokyo is also true of PyeongChang," he said, noting that venue changes with lesser capacities may be one of the outcomes.
Bach admitted the IOC had been discussing the budget issues with PyeongChang 2018 organizers.
He said Yang Ho Cho, the new chairman of the organizing committee who came in during the summer, "has the full confidence of the IOC Executive Board".
"He has asked for some time after he took over in order to address the different issues, including the budget. I think we will see some progress on this during project review in January and the coordination commission,"
Bach said, claiming it was one of the reasons the IOC’s scheduled November inspection visit was postponed until March.
On Tokyo 2020, Bach said Olympic Agenda 2020 might help guide some possible venue changes to deliver "more sustainability and less expenses".
With little over 600 days to the Rio Olympics, Bach raised no alarm bells about the state of preparations, instead indicating his satisfaction with progress.
On the Olympic TV Channel, which forms part of Agenda 2020 discussions, Bach revealed that it would start as a digital channel "and then we will see how it develops".
"We thought it would be better and more feasible to get it off the ground with a digital channel."
Reported by Mark Bisson
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