The list was eagerly awaited. With, for the keenest observers, the desire to read between the lines. Thomas Bach published on Tuesday evening the composition of the various commissions of the International Olympic Committee, his first since his election last September. A large and often prestigious cast, where members of the IOC and external experts mix. In total, no less than 39 pages, a long summary of the new thinking and active force of the Olympic institution.
When reading the document, accessible online on the official IOC website, several lessons emerge:
– The economic future of the Games will take shape in Asia. The marketing commission, one of the most important in the institution, if not the most important, is now chaired by the Japanese Tsunekazu Takeda. At the head of the Japanese Olympic Committee since 2001, he replaces the Norwegian Gerhard Heiberg, at the helm for 13 years. Takeda, 66, will have to manage a marketing budget estimated at $1 billion for the period 2013-2016.
– The Americans are taking a stand. Good news for the United States' future candidacy for the 2024 Games (and bad news for its rivals, including Paris): Larry Probst, the head of the American Olympic Committee (USOC), inducted as a member of the IOC last fall, he has already been entrusted with the presidency of a commission. Certainly, his portfolio is not the most coveted of the lot, since it concerns the press, where he succeeds the Australian Kevan Gosper, but this promotion says a lot about his influence, and with it that of the 'USOC.
– Thomas Bach likes president’s chairs. The German is not content with leading the IOC, he also wants to be involved in its commissions. He therefore wished to retain the presidency of the group responsible for television rights and new media, a sector also decisive in the smooth running of the institution.
For the rest, we must remember from this new casting the presence of Princess Anne at the head of the candidacies commission, that of the Singaporean Ser Miang Ng, unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the IOC, at the head of the finance commission, of the Turk Ugur Erdener at the head of the medical commission, and finally that of Prince Albert of Monaco as president of the sport and environment commission.
In the absence of Jean-Claude Killy, who recently resigned, France did not regain any presidency. But Edgar Grospiron, the Olympic moguls champion in 1992, was chosen as an expert for the coordination commission for the PyeongChang Games in 2018. Denis Masseglia, president of the CNOSF, and Gérard Masson, his counterpart at the French Handisport Federation, will rub shoulders to the Sport for All Commission (chaired by South African Sam Ramsamy), where they were invited as experts.
