Sebastian Coe is one of seven IOC members vying to succeed Thomas Bach as President.

LAUSANNE – Two former Olympic champions are vying for the post of the next IOC president. They include a prince from a Middle Eastern kingdom and the son of a former president. The world's top cyclists, gymnasts and skiers are also in the running.

The International Olympic Committee on Monday published a list of seven potential candidates who will run for election in March to succeed outgoing President Thomas Bach for the next eight years.

Only one woman, IOC Executive Board member Kirsty Coventry from Zimbabwe, had applied to lead an organisation that has had only male presidents in its 130-year history. Eight of these presidents were from Europe and one from the United States.

Coventry and Sebastian Coe won two gold medals each in swimming and running. Prince Feisal al Hussein of Jordan is also a member of the IOC Executive Board.

One of the four vice-presidents of the IOC is Spaniard Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., an investment banker whose father was president for 21 years until 2001.

David Lappartient is president of the cycling federation, Morinari Watanabe heads the gymnastics federation and Johan Eliasch is president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation. Coe is president of the track and field association World Athletics.

All seven met Sunday's deadline to send a letter of intent to Bach, who must leave his post next year after completing the maximum 12-year term. Bach declined at the Paris Olympics last month to seek a change in IOC rules to allow him to stay in office longer.

The next president's mandate includes the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and four years later in Brisbane, Australia. The big decisions the IOC has to make include choosing a host city for the 2036 Olympics – India and Qatar are in the running – assessing the impact of climate change on the global sports calendar and renewing the US broadcast contract, which forms a basis of Olympic funding.

A formal list of candidates is expected to be approved in January, three months before the March 18-21 electoral assembly in Greece, near ancient Olympia.

Only IOC members are eligible to stand for election; votes are cast by the other 111 members of the Olympic body.

The IOC is one of the most exclusive clubs in world sport. Its members include European and Middle Eastern royal families, top politicians from international sports associations, former and current Olympic athletes, politicians and diplomats as well as industrialists, including some billionaires like Eliasch.

It is one of the most discreet and peculiar election campaigns in the world of sport, as members are prohibited from publicly supporting their favourite.

Campaign restrictions on candidates include not releasing videos, holding public meetings and participating in public debates. They are expected to release their election manifestos before the IOC organizes a closed meeting in January in his home city of Lausanne, Switzerland, to address voters.

The top job at the IOC ideally requires in-depth knowledge of sports management, an understanding of the needs of athletes and a keen sense of world politics.

The president oversees an organization that generates billions in revenue from broadcasting and sponsorship deals for the Olympic Games and employs hundreds of people.

Coe is widely considered the most qualified candidate. He is a two-time Olympic champion in the 1,500 metres, was elected as a British MP in the 1990s, chaired the bid and organising committees for the 2012 London Olympics and has been chairman of the International Association of Athletics Federations for nine years.

However, he clashed with the IOC, Bach and other sports federations on a number of issues, including his strong stance against Russia on state-sponsored doping and the invasion of Ukraine, and the decision to award $50,000 cash prizes to gold medalists in athletics in Paris.

“A laser-like focus on sport must be the IOC's top priority. I believe I can help achieve this and more,” Coe said in a statement on Monday.

However, there are potential legal hurdles that could hinder his full eight-year term. The IOC has an age limit of 70 for members, while Coe will be 68 on election day. The rules allow an exemption for an additional four years, but that would mean a six-year presidency unless those limits are changed.

Coventry, who turned 41 on Monday, also has government experience as an appointed sports minister in Zimbabwe.

The only woman to ever stand as an IOC presidential candidate was Anita DeFrantz, a former Olympic rower from the United States. She was eliminated in the first round of a five-candidate election in 2001, which was won by Jacques Rogge.

Samaranch, who turns 65 in November, is the longest-serving member among the candidates, having joined the IOC in 2001 when his father resigned. The Spanish official would also require an increase in the IOC's age limit.

Lappartient is also president of the French National Olympic Body and has built a lot of momentum from the Summer Olympics in Paris. He is leading a project in the French Alps that was selected to host the 2030 Winter Olympics and was appointed by Bach to oversee a long-term project completed in Paris that will see Saudi Arabia host the Olympic Esports Games by 2035.

Eliasch is perhaps the most surprising candidate after being elected as an IOC member in Paris less than two months ago. The Swedish-British owner of sportswear brand Head received 17 no votes, a remarkably high number in Olympic politics.

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