Johan Eliasch is one of seven candidates for the IOC presidency who will be put to a vote by the organization's members on March 20. For his grand oral, in Lausanne, the president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) had highlighted his leadership, his experience in the business world and sports institutions as well as his environmental commitment, symbolized by the NGO he co-founded, Cool Earth. He is developing his vision for FrancsJeux in a two-part interview.
Why do you want to become IOC President?
It’s all in one word: hope. I believe the Olympic Movement is the most powerful beacon of hope the world has ever known. In a divided and difficult time, we need that hope more than ever. We need to see nations come together in friendship, showing billions of people around the world that what divides us can be transcended. But why me? I want to help shape the future of this movement because I have what it takes to help the organization rise to meet the critical moment we are in. We are facing unprecedented challenges – geopolitical, cultural, technological – and to meet them properly requires the right kind of leadership, leadership rooted in serious experience.
We need a leader who has led global organizations through periods of intense change, who can rally a team around a common mission, who has a background in sports administration, who knows a lot about climate challenges, who is a technology expert, and who has worked at the highest levels of international politics and diplomacy. I have all of these skills. I will work tirelessly for the IOC, to ensure that the Olympic Movement can continue to be a powerful force for good in our changing world.
What would be the three priorities of your mandate?
The first priority is sport. This may sound simple, but in large organisations it is easy to forget its primary purpose. Ours is to deliver spectacular displays of sporting excellence. In practice, putting sport first means taking concrete action on many fronts, from ensuring the development and protection of athletes to reviewing sport formats so that viewers of the Olympic and Paralympic Games know they are watching the best on earth. Putting sport first also means that political neutrality must remain a sacrosanct principle of the IOC. No matter what is happening in the world, athletes must not be used for political purposes.
The second priority is to do more with less. I am a businessman at heart; I know how to innovate, improve efficiency and quality while reducing waste. As IOC President, I will constantly seek to reduce duplication and use technology to achieve more with less. To increase our profitability as an organization, we must accelerate digitalization. When it comes to media consumption, we are at a crossroads. Either we rest complacently on our brand heritage and gradually lose market share, or we seize the opportunities that present themselves and relentlessly target the younger generation. It is the latter approach that I will take, day in and day out. In all of this, artificial intelligence will have a major role to play.
Finally, my third priority will be sustainability. I have a long track record, I know what works. Guided by science, I will work tirelessly to further reduce the carbon footprint of our operations in multiple measurable ways. I will harness the power of the Olympic Movement to share these new ways of working, not only with Olympic stakeholders, but also with sports fans around the world. Given the urgency of climate action, we need to think big, and that is what I will do. An example of the approach I will take: we would start by rotate the Winter Olympics between permanent venues. This is a no-brainer in terms of sustainability.
What would you put in place in the short term, by the end of 2025?
In the first few months, I will do a lot of things. Launch a broad strategic review of our operations to ensure we are meeting our objectives with key performance indicators, targets, etc. Start an open discussion within the IOC on strategic direction, implement new opportunities for members to have their voices heard. Raise the age limit for all members to 75. Convene an expert group to develop a clear framework of rules to protect women’s sport. Start planning for the first IOC summit on artificial intelligence, which will bring together leading thinkers in the field. Undertake a review of all Olympic digital products and platforms to accelerate our digital approach. Start work on our Forest City initiative, which is to preserve a strip of rainforest the size of each host city in perpetuity. And much more. I will work 24/24 to achieve everything in my manifesto.
