IOC’s Bach sees ‘new world order’ ahead of LA Olympics and says Trump will ‘fully support’ Games

Thomas Bach says he feels a rare calm in his final weeks as IOC president even as a “new world order” gains speed ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Bach led the International Olympic Committee through two locked-down Games in a global pandemic and several affected by Russian doping and military aggression, among other crises.

His successor will be elected March 20 and inherit an IOC financially secure with future Olympic hosts that today look stable and reliable.

Still, the biggest event for the next IOC president, the L.A. Games, could yet challenge Bach’s faith in the Olympics’ power to unite the world in peaceful competition and mutual acceptance.

“We have a new world order in the making, and this making … will not happen without rumbling,” Bach said this week, without criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump.

Signature Bach policies have been gender parity and inclusive acceptance of all 206 national teams, plus refugee athletes. Political neutrality is an ideal Bach clings to even as Trump has warned of denying visas to athletes based on the government’s gender interpretations.

“I am also convinced that President Trump and his administration will fully support the Olympic Games,” Bach told The Associated Press in a rare interview at IOC headquarters.

“He likes sport, so there I don’t see a risk.”

The American people, Bach added, “appreciate and love that the Games are about sport but they are about more than sport. They will want to welcome the athletes from all over the world.”

The IOC has defended female boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting — the Paris Olympic gold medalists. Both had been disqualified from the 2023 world championships run by the Russian-backed International Boxing Association, which said they failed eligibility tests.

“These two women boxers have been born as women, they have been raised as women, they have competed as women and nobody ever claimed even that they are transgender,” Bach said in AP’s interview.

“What happened there was a Russian-led misinformation campaign which then distorted the truth, the facts, and now we have this unfortunate situation that these two athletes are considered to be transgender. But. They. Are. Not.”

Before the Paris Olympics, Bach warned of “deeply disturbing” trends, including “narrow self-interests trumping the rule of law.”

“What I see is very heated discussion in the United States,” Bach told the AP. “But this is for the citizens of the United States to have. Our values are very clear and on those values the Olympic Games are based.”

Pandemic and Russian doping

Bach’s presidency since 2013 saw two Games impacted by COVID-19; one shadowed by Korean political tensions; several affected by Russian doping and military aggression; and one almost implode with a chaotic local organizing team in Rio de Janeiro that pulled the IOC into vote-buying allegations.

“I’m experiencing the first period during my presidency where I do not have an existential problem of the Olympic Games or the Olympic Movement on my desk,” Bach said.

The 71-year-old German lawyer and 1976 Olympic gold medalist in fencing leaves office in June.

“I’m fit and very happy in great health.”

Future commercial deals

A key decision early in Bach’s presidency was extending NBC’s broadcast rights in the U.S. through 2032. Renewing or finding a new partner is a big decision for the next president. Bach suggested a free-to-air network is important.

“You can say of streaming, ‘They are paying such a lot of money, let’s go for streaming.’ But what does it mean for our values?” Bach said. “The Olympic Games has to be accessible to everybody and not only the ones that can afford it.”

The IOC also must refresh its slate of top-tier sponsors after three from Japan left last year. Would the IOC take a view on signing an Elon Musk company such as Starlink?

“From what I see he is busy with other things than to think about Olympic sponsorship,” Bach said. “I did not study this kind of question.”

Ice hockey at the 2026 Olympics

Booing the U.S. anthem at sports events is becoming routine in Canada, and this week outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it will not stop.

A U.S. vs. Canada hockey game is likely next February at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Games, perhaps for the gold medal.

“This (booing) would not be great television and this would be against the Olympic values,” Bach said, predicting “all the teams, all the athletes, will enjoy the respect and support of the audience.”

Russia was banned from all team sports in Paris and its path is unclear back into ice hockey, Vladimir Putin’s favorite winter sport.

The wider issue of Russian participation at Milan-Cortina is for Bach’s successor, though his administration has already urged winter sports bodies with blanket bans on Russians to review them.

“The mission of the Olympic Movement is to unify,” he said. “This is something the winter sports federations should study very carefully.”

Diplomatic skills

Bach and predecessor Jacques Rogge were Olympic athletes who rose to represent the IOC and meet with various heads of state.

“That is one of the privileges as IOC president is that you get everybody on the phone,” Bach said. “I haven’t experienced any situation where somebody would have said, ‘I am not interested to talk.’”

The late Henry Kissinger “gave very valuable advice” in real-world diplomacy.

Spy target?

Bach’s potential as a future Olympic leader was clear from 1981 when he and Sebastian Coe, a candidate to succeed him, helped to represent athletes at a key IOC meeting in Baden-Baden, West Germany. He later worked for Horst Dassler and Adidas when they were major power brokers in world sports and reportedly were monitored for the Stasi, East Germany’s secret police.

Asked if there was a Stasi file on him, Bach said: “Not that I knew. I cannot imagine.”

Bach had warm relations with Russian President Putin during the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. Bach and the Olympics have been targets of Russian misinformation, cyber attacks and deep fake videos during the past decade of sanctioning the state-backed doping scandal and fallout from the invasion of Ukraine.

Cleaning up voting

Bach’s legacy includes changing how hosts are picked. No more blockbuster contests are vulnerable to vote-buying.

“The atmosphere was just not clean, not sober. It put the whole credibility of the IOC in doubt.”

There were no allegations of wrongdoing in how the French Alps, Brisbane and Salt Lake City were selected as hosts of the Olympics from 2030-2034.

Summer vacation

Bach’s last day after a three-month presidential transition is June 23, officially Olympic Day.

After that?

“The first four weeks I guess I will sleep,” he said. “Then I will do a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela all alone and hope I get some inspiration then for my future.”

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AP Olympics at https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games