(ATR) - When nine new members take the Olympic oath at the IOC Session in Buenos Aires, the class of 2018 becomes the latest wave of change for the IOC.
The group includes Samira Asghari, the first Afghan nominated to the IOC. The 24-year-old will become the group’s youngest member. The oldest member of the class of 2018 is 59. Prominent sports leaders such as Giovanni Malago of the Italian National Olympic Committee and Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic Committee, are also part of the group.
Mandatory Retirement
Spurred on primarily by retirement age rules, the IOC is now in constant need of replenishing the ranks. Once appointed for life, IOC members elected before 2000 can only serve till age 80. Members named from 2000 must retire by age 70.
The IOC is currently at 96 members, but it will lose seven to retirement this year alone. Even with nine new members added at the Session in October the membership will remain below 100 and far below the 115 limit of the Olympic Charter.
Next year will bring another retirement jolt, with at least seven members leaving at the end of 2019. Add to that members who die or who no longer hold the NOC seat or international federation role tied to their IOC status. And so it goes – another class of a half dozen or more will have to be named in 2019 to keep pace.
Among those leaving in 2018 are Mario Pescante of Italy, South African Sam Ramsamy and Ung Chang of North Korea. Larry Probst of the U.S. will leave two years earlier than his term, which ends in 2020.
Also in 2019, Italy’s Franco Carraro, chairman of the Olympic Program Commission, retires.
Australian John Coates, chair of the Tokyo Coordination Commission, hits the 70-year mark in 2020, along with IOC Medical Commission chair Ugur Erdener of Turkey.
The vacancies will keep the Princess Royal and her five colleagues of the Members Election Commission busy. They have in excess of 150 applications to vet for nomination by the IOC Executive Board. IOC Director General Christophe de Kepper oversees the process.
Women at the Top
Other changes are coming. A doyenne will move to the top of IOC seniority in 2022 when Richard Pound retires at age 80. Princess Nora of Liechtenstein will become the first woman to rank first in IOC protocol order. She could serve till 2030, when she hits age 80. By the way, her successor would be Prince Albert of Monaco -- hard to imagine as an octogenarian when he leaves in 2038.
The IOC retirement boom will have implications on who will be the next president after Thomas Bach. His first eight-year mandate is up in 2021. Should he wish, the IOC could extend his term for four more years. Bach, an IOC member since 1991, hits the 80 years retirement mark in 2033.
The Next President
An election in 2025 to choose his successor would presumably include the most senior members who also have 12 years left to serve before they retire. There are but a few.
FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann, set to retire in 2037, is one. Morocco sports leader Nawal El Moutawakel will serve until 2042. Another, Sheikh Ahmad, president of ANOC and the Olympic Counsel of Asia, was elected at age 29 in 1992. He will hit retirement age in 2043.
Then there is the class of 2018 and Afghan prodigy Asghari, who will be rising in the ranks in 2025. But with potentially 46 more years ahead as an IOC member, there is plenty of time for Asghari to take her place as one of the leaders of an Olympic sports world decades from now.
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Publisher's Note: An earlier version this article incorrectly included Britta Heidemann of Germany and Stefan Holm as regular members of the IOC. They are members of the Athletes's Commission and retire after eight-year terms. ATR regrets the error.
Written by Ed Hula
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