Olympic leader Bach's $350,000 pay package in 2024 trails far behind soccer's elected leaders
FILE - IOC President Thomas Bach, right, greets Kirsty Coventry after she was announced as the new IOC President at the International Olympic Committee 144th session in Costa Navarino, western Greece, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis, File)
By GRAHAM DUNBAR
The International Olympic Committee paid its president Thomas Bach $350,000 in income and expenses in 2024, his final full year in office.
The sum included a salary-like payment — or 'indemnity' in Olympic language — of 275,000 euros ($317,000), according to its annual report Friday. That is a relatively small figure compared to soccer bodies that, like the IOC, are based in Switzerland and count annual revenue in billions.
Bach on Monday will formally hand over to president-elect Kirsty Coventry, who will start an eight-year initial term as the Olympic body's first female leader, and first from Africa.
The IOC has classed the 71-year-old Bach as a volunteer on a full-time executive mission who 'should not have to finance activities related to his function from his personal savings.'
Bach's earnings were less than 10% of what soccer gives its top elected officials.
FIFA paid its president Gianni Infantino $5.2 million in taxable salary and bonus last year, plus other expenses. He is also among the 109 IOC members and can claim $7,000 each year for office costs and $450 daily allowance when on Olympic business.
UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin received almost $4.3 million in taxable income last year, including $300,000 from FIFA as one of its vice presidents.
It is unclear if the 41-year-old Coventry will be a salaried president of the IOC instead of officially a volunteer. The two-time Olympic champion in swimming left her job as sports minister of Zimbabwe after winning the seven-candidate IOC election in March.
The presidential indemnity likely will be reviewed later this year, the IOC said Friday.
Bach's annual payment has been decided by the IOC's ethics commission on the stated principle 'the president should not financially benefit from his position.'
The German lawyer held a series of business consultancies and board of director seats before being elected in 2013 to lead the IOC.
The IOC paid Bach 225,000 euros ($259,000) in 2020. It rose to 275,000 euros ($317,000) in the year of his re-election, 2021, then was frozen for the rest of his second term of four years until reaching the maximum 12 years in office.
International sports bodies have typically published details of leadership pay as part of governance reforms, particularly after corruption scandals in soccer.
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Japan Today
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Japan Today
10 hours ago
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Outgoing IOC president Thomas Bach faced mammoth challenges
Thomas Bach, posing beside the fencing outfit he wore when he won 1976 Olympic team gold, faced huge challenges in his 12-year tenure as IOC president olympics By Pirate IRWIN Thomas Bach's eventful 12-year tenure as president of the International Olympic Committee comes to an end on Monday when he hands over the reins to Kirsty Coventry, the first woman and African to hold sport's most powerful political office. The 71-year-old German lawyer, a 1976 Olympic team fencing champion, faced many challenges during his time in power. AFP Sport picks out three: Russia 'the elephant in the room' President Vladimir Putin was the first person to ring Bach to congratulate him on his election in 2013 -- little did Bach realize how Russia was to dog his presidency. The state-sponsored doping scandal at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games and Russia breaking the Olympic Truce twice, in 2014 and 2022, taxed his patience and that of the IOC movement. Bach faced pressure from both sides before the 2024 Paris Games and in the end permitted Russian athletes to compete despite the invasion of Ukraine, but only after being strictly vetted and under a neutral flag. For Michael Payne, a former head of IOC marketing, Russia was the "large elephant in the room" and Bach was in a "no-win situation." His fellow former IOC marketing executive Terrence Burns, who lived and worked in Russia in the 1990s, said Bach was one of many leaders fooled by Putin. "On doping he should have been harsher," Burns told AFP. "But let's be honest, the whole thing was almost unbelievable. "On Ukraine, you were damned if you do and damned if you don't. I don't think any Western government or politician has ever figured out Russia... nor did he." Hugh Robertson, now an IOC member and the British sports minister responsible for overseeing the delivery of the highly successful 2012 London Games, believes Bach played his hand well over the Paris Games. "The balance he struck over Russian participation in Paris was in line with the Olympic Charter," Robertson told AFP. "He took very strong action against the government, banned any events in Russia, any national representation and any national symbols." Going ahead with Tokyo Games Bach had "a very tough presidency and never caught a break" said Payne, but he always held his nerve. No more so than when Bach resisted calls from within Japan for the Tokyo Games to be canceled, not just postponed to 2021, because of the COVID pandemic. Payne says Bach's painful memories of missing the Moscow Games in 1980 due to a boycott linked to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, had left their mark. The German said the IOC would not pull the plug. In addition, the ramifications of canceling Tokyo would have been enormous for the IOC. "Think about if Tokyo had not taken place," said Payne. "Would Beijing (the 2022 Winter Games) have taken place as well? 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Japan Today
10 hours ago
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Olympic president Kirsty Coventry starts work with strong IOC and challenges for Los Angeles Games
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For the two-time Olympic champion swimmer's first full day as president Tuesday she has invited the 109-strong IOC membership to closed-doors meetings about its future under the banner 'Pause and Reflect.' 'The way in which I like to lead is with collaboration,' said Coventry, who was sports minister in Zimbabwe for the past seven years, told reporters Thursday. Many, if not most, members want more say in how the IOC makes decisions after nearly 12 years of Bach's tight executive control. It was a theme in manifestos by the other election candidates, and the runner-up in March, IOC vice president Juan Antonio Samaranch, will lead one of the sessions. 'I like people to say: 'Yes, I had a say and this was the direction that we went,'' Coventry said. 'That way, you get really authentic buy-in.' In an in-house IOC interview, Coventry also described how she wanted to be perceived: 'She never changed. Always humble, always approachable.' That could mean more member input, if not an open and contested vote, to decide the 2036 Olympics host. Coventry's win was widely seen as positive for the ambitions of India, and its richest family, to host the Summer Games that will follow Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane in 2032. Nita Ambani, the philanthropist wife of industrialist Mukesh Ambani, has been an IOC member since 2016 and helped promote India's Olympic bid in Paris last year. She and Coventry are seen as being close, and the 2036 hosting award is among the biggest decisions pending. 'It is an open question,' Coventry told reporters Thursday. 'For me as a president I need to be able to remain neutral.' Qatar is bidding for the Summer Games for a fourth time and Saudi Arabia also is interested. A regional Middle East bid could be a political and logistical solution. A Bach legacy is the policy of fast-tracking well-connected bidders into exclusive negotiations toward a rubber-stamp vote by IOC members. At some point in Coventry's presidency, Russia could possibly return fully to the Olympic family. It is unclear exactly when less than eight months before the 2026 Winter Games opening ceremony in Milan. Russian athletes have faced a wider blanket ban in winter sports than summer ones during the military invasion of Ukraine. Even neutral status for individual Russians to compete looks elusive. Vladimir Putin offered 'sincere congratulations' on Coventry's election win, with the Kremlin praising her 'high authority in the sporting world.' However, there seems little scope for the IOC to lift its formal suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee imposed in 2023 because of a territorial grab in sports administration. Four regional sports bodies in eastern Ukraine were taken under Russian control. Coventry said she will ask a task force to review IOC policy relating to athletes from countries involved in wars and conflicts. The first Summer Games under a female presidency will be the first with a majority of athlete quota places for women. Another task force is promised to look at gender eligibility issues, after the turmoil around women's boxing and two gold medalists in Paris. The new World Boxing governing body said last month it will introduce mandatory sex testing. Coventry often states the importance of 'Olympic Values,' which include gender parity, inclusion and inspiring young people through sports. "That is something that we can never, never, never compromise. And we have to be proud of that.' The top-tier Olympic sponsor program might have peaked in Paris with 15 partners earning the IOC more than $1.6 billion in cash and services over the past two years. The sponsor slate is down to 11 after all three Japanese sponsors and US tech firm Intel did not renew, though a major new backer from India is all-but promised. Total revenue was $7.7 billion for 2021-24, including $3.25 billion of broadcasting revenue in 2024. It helps fund the Olympic Channel media operation in Madrid and about 700 staff in Lausanne. Salary and staff costs topped $250 million last year. Though the future broadcasting landscape is hard to predict, the IOC has said $7.4 billion already is secured through 2028, and $4 billion for the 2033-36 commercial cycle. That sum was topped up in March with a foundational $3 billion deal. NBC renewed for two more Olympics through the 2034 Salt Lake City Winter Games and the 2036 Summer Games that look destined for Asia. The IOC also has a 12-year deal with Saudi Arabia through 2036 to host a video gaming Esports Olympics, though the launch is delayed until at least 2027. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
