Continuing a streak of over 40 years with a European as its president (in fact, since 1894, the only non-European to hold the position was American Avery Brundage from 1952-1972), the IOC has elected Germany’s Thomas Bach as their new leader. He replaces Jacques Rogge from Belgium, who held the seat for 12 years and across three Olympics.
Bach, who is 59 years old, is a lawyer and a former IOC Vice President. He received 49 votes in the 2nd round of voting, with that second round going thusly:
Richard Carrion (Puerto Rico) – 29
Ser Miang Ng (Singapore) – 6
Denis Oswald (Switzerland) – 5
Sergei Bubka (Ukraine) – 4
CK Wu (Taiwan) – eliminated in the first round.
Bach is the head of the Germany Olympic Committee and has served on the executive board under both Rogge and his predecessor: Juan Antonio Samaranch of Spain.
Bach holds the distinction of being the first Olympic gold medal athlete to ever be the president of the IOC, as he was a part of the 1976 West German Olympic Team that won gold in team fencing.
