His passport is Ukrainian. But Sergei Bubka, the world record holder in the pole vault, is right at home in Moscow. Less than a month before the vote for the presidency of the IOC, scheduled for September 10 in Buenos Aires, the former athlete is taking full advantage of the World Athletics Championships to strengthen his campaign. And it works.
At the Luzhniki stadium as at his Moscow hotel, Sergei Bubka multiplies interviews and handshakes. His credo: take advantage of his relative young age (49 years) to fully play the card of rejuvenation of the Olympic movement. “Olympism is doing well,” he said, “but I was surprised, and even concerned, to discover that the average viewer of the Olympic Games is 50 years old. We must turn more towards young people, encourage them to practice sport, find a way to attract and retain them. »
Among his ideas, the creation of a sort of youth council, within the IOC, where young men and girls from national Olympic committees all over the world would meet.
His candidacy to succeed Jacques Rogge surprised more than one. In Lausanne, it was rumored that the Ukrainian would instead try his luck for the presidency of the IAAF, the International Athletics Federation, which the current president, the Senegalese Lamine Diack, will leave in 2015. Sergueï Bubka explains: “J I considered that the election of September 10 constituted a tremendous opportunity to lead the IOC. I just didn't want to let it go. As for the presidency of the IAAF, I am not thinking about it. I am completely focused on my campaign for the IOC. The rest doesn't matter to me. »
Cautious, Sergei Bubka refuses to express his preference between the three candidate cities for the 2020 Games, Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo. “These three files are excellent,” he said. I am convinced that the three cities would be able to organize the Summer Games magnificently in seven years. » But the Ukrainian leader is not afraid to take a position in the debate, more heated than ever, on the threat of a boycott of the Sochi Games in 2014. “When I was a pole vaulter, I was deprived of the Games of Los Angeles by the politicians' decision not to send the Soviet team, he said. I don't wish anyone to experience such frustration. I am convinced that the Sochi Games will be a great success. There will be no discrimination, either towards participants or spectators. We will not punish athletes. »
Three weeks before D-Day, Sergei Bubka still remains an outsider in the race for the presidency of the IOC, a six-way battle led by the German Thomas Bach. But his rating is rising. In Moscow, she took a few points.
