The end of rumors? Certainly. After several weeks of doubts, Nawal El Moutawakel has finally decided: she will not enter the race for the presidency of the IOC. Unlike Sergei Bubka, whose candidacy was announced this Tuesday in Saint Petersburg. The Moroccan gives up. The Ukrainian commits.
For Nawal El Moutawakel, the answer is therefore negative. The former Olympic 400m hurdles champion, suspected for several months as a possible candidate to succeed Jacques Rogge, will not campaign. She told the Moroccan economic news site medias24.com: “I am obviously honored that some members of the IOC may think that I have the qualities required to occupy this position. After careful consideration, I believe that now is not the right time. For now, I am enjoying taking on the responsibilities entrusted to me by the IOC and I want to dedicate myself completely to it to broaden my experience of the Olympic movement. Of course, I will be available to the next IOC President to help him with his heavy responsibilities. »
Nawal El Moutawakel admits to having hesitated. His candidacy would certainly have had a certain weight in a campaign that was tighter and more indecisive than ever. The Moroccan leader, already vice-president of the Olympic institution, would have been the only woman in the race. And the only representative, to date, of the African continent.
Conversely, Sergei Bubka took the plunge. A relative of the former pole vaulter, still a world record holder, had confided it at the start of the day to a reporter from the Reuters agency in Saint Petersburg, where the SportAccord convention has been held since Monday. The Ukrainian was expected to announce his candidacy later today. The indiscretion has proven to be very reliable.
“Saint Petersburg is the right place to announce my candidacy and start a new direction in my life,” said the first pole vaulter to cross the 6m barrier, during a press conference in the Russian city. It is in this magnificent city that my career as a professional pole vaulter began 30 years ago,” added the Ukrainian, explaining that he had obtained his first qualification there for the world athletics championships.
Influential and charismatic, skillful and terribly ambitious, Sergei Bubka will certainly play a major role in the campaign for the presidency of the IOC. Joining the executive commission last year, he has already made an express journey within the institution, making progress since his election to the athletes' commission in 1996. But this eagerness to climb to the top could do him a disservice, facing older rivals in the house.
Less than two weeks before the deadline for submitting applications, set by the IOC for Monday June 10, Sergei Bubka has joined the field of the first five applicants, Thomas Bach, Ng Ser Miang, CK Wu, Richard Carrion and Denis Oswald . A list that should no longer move much.
