To stay or not to stay? Asked several times at a press conference on Monday October 16 about the possibility of extending his term of office as IOC President beyond 2025, as requested the day before by several IOC members, Thomas Bach tried to keep the matter under wraps. And he did so with some skill. After suggesting that this was not the right time to campaign, the German leader reiterated his loyalty to the Olympic Charter, recalling that he had been one of its co-authors. “For this reason, respecting term limits makes perfect sense to me“, he explained to the media. He also specified that he would reserve his response for IOC members, and not for the press. More surprisingly, the IOC President said he had only heard rumours of a call from certain members for his extension the day before the Mumbai session. However, Mustapha Berraf, President of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA), who was behind the move, explained that he had spoken to him about it at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, at least ten days before the Mumbai session.
