President of the International Olympic Committee
The president of the International Olympic Committee is head of the executive board that assumes the general overall responsibility for the administration of the International Olympic Committee and the management of its affairs. The IOC Executive Board consists of the chairman president, four vice-presidents, and ten other IOC members; all of the board members are elected by the IOC Session, using a secret ballot, by a majority vote.
The IOC organizes the modern Olympic Games, held every two years, alternating summer and winter games. The IOC president holds the office for a maximum of two terms, renewable once. A president serving for two terms would lead the organization for at least three Summer Olympic Games and three Winter Olympic Games.
Presidents
Initially, it was decided that the main representative from the country holding the games would assume the role of IOC president. However, this idea was quickly abandoned. Over the course of over 130 years, only 10 persons have been elected to lead the organization, with the tenth taking office in June 2025.Demetrios Vikelas (1894–1896)
had already attempted to restart the Olympic Games at the congress for the fifth anniversary of the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques in 1892. While he may have raised the enthusiasm of the public, he did not manage to establish a proper commitment.He decided to reiterate his efforts at the next congress in 1894, which would openly address the issue of amateur sports, but also with the sub-text of recreating the Olympic Games. Six of the seven points that would be debated pertained to amateurism and the seventh point concerned the possibility of restoring the Games. Coubertin also sought to give an international dimension to his congress.
De Coubertin gained support from several personalities: Leopold II of Belgium; Edward, Prince of Wales; Crown Prince Constantine of Greece; William Penny Brookes, the creator of the Wenlock Olympian Games in Shropshire, England; and Ioannis Phokianos, a professor of mathematics and physics and a college principal. Phokianos was also one of the advocates of sport in Greece; he had organized a series of Olympic Games sponsored by Evangelos Zappas in 1875, and in 1888 he had organized an elite and private Games as the founder of the Pan-Hellenic Gymnastic Club. Phokianos could not travel to Paris for financial reasons and because he was finalizing the construction of his new college. Instead, de Coubertin turned to one of the more eminent representatives of the Greek community in Paris—Demetrios Vikelas—whom he invited to take part in the congress. Athens was approved to host the 1896 Olympic Games, Greece being the original home of the Olympics, and Vikelas was duly chosen as the first president of the IOC.
Pierre de Coubertin (1896–1925)
, took over the IOC presidency when Demetrios Vikelas stepped down after the Olympics in his own country. Despite its initial success, the Olympic Movement faced hard times, as the 1900 Games and 1904 Games were both upstaged by World's Fairs—Exposition Universelle in 1900 and Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904—and received little attention.The 1906 Intercalated Games revived the momentum, and the Olympic Games grew to become the most important sports event. De Coubertin created the modern pentathlon for the 1912 Summer Olympics, further created the Olympic flag and Olympic rings in 1913, and selected Lausanne in Switzerland as the permanent home for the IOC in 1915. He announced his intention to step down after the 1924 Summer Olympics, which proved much more successful than the first attempt in Paris in 1900, and was succeeded as IOC president in 1925 by Belgian Henri de Baillet-Latour.
De Coubertin remained an honorary president of the IOC until his death in 1937.
Henri de Baillet-Latour (1925–1942)
was elected IOC president in 1925, after the founder of the modern Olympic Movement, Baron de Coubertin, stepped down from the post to become honorary president. The Belgian Comte led the IOC until his death in 1942, when he was succeeded by his vice-president J. Sigfrid Edström.Johannes Sigfrid Edström (1942–1952)
When IOC president Henri de Baillet-Latour died in 1942, Swedish industrialist Johannes Sigfrid Edström took over as the acting president until the end of World War II, when he was formally elected IOC president. He played an important role in reviving the Olympic Movement after the war.In 1931, Edström was involved in the controversial decision to ban legendary Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi from competing at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, as the IOC considered Nurmi to be a professional athlete. This had a negative effect on Finland's relationship with Sweden, as Nurmi was a celebrated national hero in his own country.
Edström retired from the IOC presidency in 1952 and was succeeded by Avery Brundage.
Avery Brundage (1952–1972)
became vice-president of the IOC in 1945 and was subsequently elected president in 1952, at the 47th IOC Session in Helsinki, succeeding J. Sigfrid Edström. While he was being considered for this honor, Brundage fathered two sons with a woman to whom he was not married; in order to avoid a political scandal, he requested that his name be kept off the birth certificates.During his tenure as IOC president, Brundage strongly opposed any form of professionalism in the Olympic Games. Gradually, this opinion became less accepted by the sports world and other IOC members, but his opinions led to some embarrassing incidents, such as the exclusion of Austrian skier Karl Schranz from the 1972 Winter Olympics. Likewise, he opposed the restoration of Olympic medals to Native American athlete Jim Thorpe, who had been stripped of the medals when he was found to have played semi-professional baseball before taking part in the 1912 Summer Olympics. Despite this, Brundage accepted the "shamateurism" from Eastern Bloc countries, in which team members were nominally students, soldiers, or civilians working in a non-sports profession, but in reality were paid by their states to train on a full-time basis. Brundage claimed that it was "their way of life". Thorpe's amateur status was restored by the Amateur Athletic Union in 1973, following Brundage's retirement. The IOC officially pardoned Thorpe in 1982 and ordered that his medals be presented posthumously to his family. After his death in 1975, it was revealed that Brundage had notified the IOC that Thorpe had played semi-professional baseball years before.
Brundage also opposed anything that he viewed as politicizing sport. At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists to show support for the Black Power movement during their medal ceremony. Brundage ordered the USOC to expel both African-American men from the Olympic Village and have them suspended from the U.S. Olympic team. When the USOC refused, he threatened to ban the entire U.S. Olympic team. However, Brundage made no objections against Nazi salutes during the Berlin Olympics.
He may be best remembered for his decision during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, to continue the Games following the Black September Palestinian terrorist attack which killed eleven Israeli athletes. While some criticized Brundage's decision—including L.A. Times columnist Jim Murray, who wrote "Incredibly, they're going on with it. It's almost like having a dance at Dachau"—most did not, and few athletes withdrew from the Games. The Olympic competition was suspended on 5 September for one complete day. The next day, a memorial service of eighty thousand spectators and three thousand athletes was held in the Olympic Stadium. Brundage gave an address in which he stated:
Brundage strongly opposed the exclusion of Rhodesia from the Olympics due to its racial policies. After the attacks in Munich, Brundage drew a comparison between the massacre of the Israeli athletes and the barring of the Rhodesian team, for which he later apologized.
Brundage is also remembered for proposing the elimination of all team sports from the Summer Olympic Games, fearing that the Games would become too expensive for all but the wealthiest nations to host; he also proposed the elimination of the Winter Olympic Games entirely due to its association with commercialism.
Brundage retired as IOC president after the 1972 Summer Games, having held the post for twenty years, and was succeeded by Lord Killanin.
Michael Morris (1972–1980)
was elected as Honorary President of the Olympic Council of Ireland in 1950, and became the Irish delegate at the IOC in 1952. He eventually became senior vice-president of the IOC in 1968, and succeeded Avery Brundage to the presidency on 23 August 1972, being elected at the 73rd IOC Session in Munich, just prior to the 1972 Summer Olympics.The Olympic Movement experienced a difficult period during his presidency, having to deal with the aftermath of the tragedy at the 1972 Munich Games and the financial failure of the 1976 Montréal Games. Due to limited interest from potential hosts, the cities of Lake Placid, New York and Los Angeles, California were chosen to host the 1980 Winter Games and the 1984 Summer Games, respectively, in the absence of any competing cities.
Killanin resigned prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, after the massive political boycott of those Games in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but retained his position until the Games were completed.
Juan Antonio Samaranch (1980–2001)
was elected President of the IOC on 16 July at the 83rd IOC Session in Moscow, that was held prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics—between 15 and 18 July 1980. He officially assumed presidency at the end of the Moscow Olympics.During his term, Samaranch managed to make the Olympic Movement financially healthy, with big television deals and sponsorships. Although the 1984 Summer Olympics were boycotted by the Eastern Bloc countries, a record number of athletes participated in those Games, and the number of nations with an IOC membership and participating increased at every Games during his presidency. Samaranch also wanted the best athletes to compete in the Olympics, which led to the gradual acceptance of professional athletes.
One achievement of Samaranch has undoubtedly been the financial rescue of the IOC, which was in financial crisis in the 1970s. The games themselves were such a burden on host cities that it appeared that no host would be found for future Olympiads. Under Samaranch, the IOC revamped its sponsorship arrangements, and new broadcasting deals which brought in much money.