Power, politics, and the Olympic prize: IOC race heats up on Greece's sunlit shores

Olympics - 144th IOC Session - Costa Navarino, Pylos, Greece - March 19, 2025 General view as International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach speaks during the session REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki

PYLOS, Greece - The slow-burn race for the most powerful job in world sport roared into life on Wednesday, set against the dazzling backdrop of the Ionian Sea, where the seven contenders for the International Olympic Committee presidency made their final moves ahead of a vote that will shape the sporting landscape for the next decade.

Behind the gilded facades and five-star hospitality of the Costa Navarino resort in Greece's southwestern Peloponnese, whispers of alliances and voting tactics swirled as IOC members met for the 144th Session – the last with Thomas Bach at the wheel.