Pylos
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.
The winner of the presidential election will lead the world's wealthiest multi-sports organisation with revenues of about $7 billion per four-year cycle.
With the Mediterranean breeze carrying hints of salt and ambition, the seven seeking to replace Bach had to navigate a gauntlet of flashing cameras and microphones as they were ushered to lunch on a terrace overlooking the sea.
"I'm still here," quipped Britain's Sebastian Coe, considered one of the frontrunners, as he walked briskly past the bank of reporters, flashing a smile but making no further comment.
Kirsty Coventry, considered another frontrunner and believed to be Bach's preferred candidate, was similarly circumspect, stopping only to make one brief comment to German media before the Zimbabwean headed to the terrace.
Last to leave the Session Hall was Spain's Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, son of the IOC's seventh president who led the body from 1980 to 2001.
"It's very easy in this (Olympic) world, so close, to confuse a smile for a vote, a friendship for a vote, a nice word for a vote," smiled the Spaniard when asked how he felt the race was going. "We all have to be very careful in making that translation.
"It's a very good system. All the IOC members have one thing which is extraordinarily precious, which is a vote and its confidentiality.
"That gives each one of us the full independence to decide whatever we think is better. And that we will only know, it's only possible to know when the real votes are cast. So we will see."
Samaranch Jr rounds out the trio widely thought to be the favourites, but is taking nothing for granted. "I don't know if we will win or lose votes (in the remaining hours before the vote), but I can promise you that I will be working until the very last second, until 3:59:59 tomorrow afternoon."
French candidate David Lappartient, head of the world cycling federation, insisted the race was wide open, and that he expects multiple rounds of voting before a decisive winner emerges.
With just over 100 ballots set to be cast at the Greek seaside resort the winner will need an outright majority. If nobody secures a majority, the lowest scorer is axed, triggering another round of voting until one candidate emerges victorious.
"In the race, still in the race," Lappartient smiled, before leaning on a cycling analogy. "I think that it's riding fast, but I'm still in the first part of the bunch. I've not been dropped from the bunch, so I still believe it's possible.
"I respect my fellow colleagues, also candidates, but I think I'm one of the potential options to be the winner tomorrow."
Other candidates Johan Eliasch and Morinari Watanabe would not speculate. Japanese Watanabe, head of the world gymnastics federation, smiled and simply said: "I am waiting," while president of the world ski and snowboard federation Eliasch said: "We shall see tomorrow."
"Tomorrow is the big day," Swedish-born Eliasch added. "I am sure the outcome will be a good one – we have seven good candidates."
The final candidate, Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan, said: "I have spoken to more members in the last 3-4 months than in the last 4 years, and that for me has been the great takeaway of this – engagement.
