In his final International Athletes’ Forum (IAF) appearance as IOC President, Thomas Bach took part in his traditional dedicated Q&A session, answering questions from the athlete representatives.
12 Jun 2025 – The Q&A is always a highlight of the IAF, and this session was particularly special as President Bach prepares to leave his post after 12 years, so was able to reflect on the progress made for athletes during that time, while offering his thoughts on the future.
As usual, no topic was off limits for our athlete representatives. The Q&A was livestreamed on YouTube, ensuring athletes from around the world could tune in.
Lessons on pressure
From his days as an Olympic champion in fencing to his 12 years leading the IOC, the President has dealt with his fair share of pressure.
Naturally, the athlete representatives were keen to draw on this experience as he shared some important lessons on dealing with the demands of elite sport.
“What I always felt as an athlete was that the only real pressure comes from yourself,” the President explained. “When you’re on the field of play, you’re alone – you have to do what you have been training for.
“It’s the same when it comes to being IOC President, or whatever position of responsibility. When it comes to the point of decision, you must be at peace with yourself that what you want to achieve is the right thing to do.
“Then, you will have no real pressure, only determination and passion.”
Combatting climate change
As ever, climate change was a topic of interest for our participants.
With the IOC’s Future Host Commission undertaking studies on the future of the Olympic Winter Games, President Bach revealed the IOC’s ongoing efforts to address this.
“There are discussions about a potential rotation of the Olympic Winter Games among snow-safe places, but there also needs to be discussions about the programme, the format – you must think out of the box,” he explained.
“We chose to do a double allocation of the Winter Games with French Alps 2030 and Salt Lake City-Utah 2034, because these are such snow-safe regions.
“We’re also giving a certain priority to the candidature from Switzerland, which would respect these conditions of sustainable Winter Games and contribute to the fight against global warming.”
Solidarity through sport
The most powerful message the President gave the Forum was about the power of sport, and the responsibility that athletes have to harness this.
“Sport is about solidarity, and solidarity means more than respect,” he said. “You can respect someone if they have a different opinion to you, but the step we’re making in sport is from respect to solidarity. You not only respect each other; you help each other.”
The President highlighted surveys after Paris 2024 – a Games edition followed by 5 billion people around the world – that showed 78 per cent of people believe the Games are more important than ever in our divided world.
“You can see that people, in their hearts, are longing for something else,” said President Bach. “Many of them are fed up with this daily hate, daily exclusion, daily arrogance, and therefore we have to stand strong.
“If we stand strong, I’m really convinced that we can contribute to a better world through sport.”
Thank you, President Bach
To round off the session, IOC Athletes’ Commission Chair Emma Terho presented President Bach with a special photo album from the Commission, before a surprise video was broadcast from athletes from around the world, thanking the outgoing IOC President for his service to athletes and the Olympic Movement.
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