The trend is not new, but it is confirmed: nothing is more comfortable, in the international sports movement, than to present oneself before the voters in the position of outgoing president. Victory is never assured, but it rarely eludes. Better still: the landscape often clears itself, as if by magic, of any opposition.
The last few days have demonstrated this again, with the results of the most recent elections in the international federations of the Olympic movement. Two incumbents were seeking a new mandate. They won without even having to count the ballots. Not really a model of democratic process, but no one seems to really complain about it, the most ambitious often preferring to bide their time without trying to shake up the established order too soon.
In place since 2021, German Thomas Konietzko (pictured above) has been reappointed for a second consecutive term as president of the International Canoe Federation (ICF). He was the only one in the running for the top job. The body did not even communicate the score of his victory in its official press release. Thomas Konietzko obtained 87 votes, for a single vote against, following a ballot organized during the annual congress in Antalya, Turkey. He will remain at the helm of the ICF until 2028.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) was also completely predictable. Tayyab Ikram was re-elected for a second four-year term, until 2028. The Pakistani, who took over as head of the body in November 2022 after the surprise resignation of India's Narinder Batra, was the only candidate. The election took place in Muscat, in the Sultanate of Oman, during the 49th FIH Congress.
Conversely, the battle for the presidency of Rugby Europe was looking more uncertain. This was normal: the outgoing Romanian Octavian Morariu could no longer run again, having completed his three consecutive four-year terms. To replace him, two men presented themselves to the voters: the French Christian Dullin, former secretary general of the French Rugby Federation (FFR), and the Dutchman Janhein Pieterse, former president of the Netherlands Rugby Federation.
A Frenchman against a Dutchman for a place at the head of the European rugby body: the game seemed to be over in a sport where France has always sat at the table of the powerful, unlike the Netherlands. But it seems that politics does not always follow the logic of the world ranking. Janhein Pieterse won by a whisker, collecting 46 votes against only 19 for Christian Dulllin. Clarification: the Dutchman was supported by the British bloc. Everything is explained.
What's next? In the immediate future, two elections are looming, with, in both cases, the outgoing president reduced to the rank of mere spectator. It's easy to see that, unlike the ICF or the FIH, candidates are jostling for position.
First in chronological order: the election for the presidency of World Rugby. It is scheduled for Thursday, November 14 in Dublin. On the starting line, three candidates to succeed the Englishman Bill Beaumont, forced to hand over the keys to his office after two consecutive four-year terms: the Frenchman Abdelatif Benazzi, 56 years old, proposed by France and supported by South Africa; the Italian Andrea Rinaldo, 70 years old, proposed by Italy and supported by Ireland; the Australian Brett Robinson, 54 years old, proposed by Australia and supported by England.
There could have been four of them if it had not been for the forced withdrawal of the Scot John Jeffrey, the vice-president of the body. Long announced as the favourite, he had to give up last September after losing the support of his own federation. In his absence, the Australian Brett Robinson seems the strongest of the candidates.
Same scenario at the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM). An incumbent, the German Klaus Schormann, who has arrived at the end of a reign of more than thirty years (he was elected for the first time in 1993). And three candidates, all male, in the running to replace him. In alphabetical order, the Frenchman Joël Bouzou, 69 years old, the Egyptian Sharif El Erian, 54 years old, the American Rob Stull, 64 years old. Common denominator: the three men are all Olympians.
On paper, Joël Bouzou is the favorite. He is already in the place. Former secretary general of the UIPM in the 90s, he has been its vice-president since 2012. The election must take place during the annual congress, organized on November 16 and 17 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
