COSTA NAVARINO, Greece, March 19, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Thomas Bach's successor as president of the International Olympic Committee will be elected on Thursday at the Greek coastal resort of Costa Navarino.

Bach was first elected to an initial eight-year term in 2013, succeeding Belgian Jacques Rogge, and was re-elected for four years in 2021.

The 71-year-old German announced during the Paris Olympics last August he would not seek a third term, declaring: "New times are calling for new leaders."

AFP profiles the seven contenders:

Sebastian Coe (GBR)

The charismatic Englishman will hope the Midas-like touch that has brought him success on and off the athletics track delivers the ultimate prize in sports governance.

With an element of Peter Pan about him -- his youthful looks belie his 68 years -- Coe is a two-time 1,500 metres Olympic gold medallist and ran both the successful bid for the 2012 London Olympics and the Games themselves.

Since he was elected World Athletics president in 2015 Coe has reformed the body after the troubled reign of his predecessor Lamine Diack, convicted in France for his involvement in covering up Russian doping.

Coe has shown strong leadership in imposing a blanket ban on Russian athletes in the Paris Games due to the invasion of Ukraine.

However, his introduction of prize money for Olympic champions in athletics was not universally welcomed by parts of the Olympic Movement.

"On reflection, I would have announced it and done it in a different way," Coe told AFP in January.

He has made protecting women's sport the centrepiece of his programme following the gender eligibility row at the Paris Games.

David Lappartient (FRA)

The ambitious Frenchman has only been an IOC member since 2022 but he possesses an impressive CV.

The 51-year-old has had a successful tenure since being elected president of the International Cycling Union in 2017.

The centre-right lawmaker also produced results with his political nous and powers of persuasion, securing the 2030 Winter Olympics for the Alps.

However, the impetus behind his bid has been hit by a couple of factors.

French biathlon great Martin Fourcade turned down being head of the 2030 organising committee due to "numerous disagreements" with the head political figure of the region, principally over environmental issues.

Also the advent of compatriot Tony Estanguet -- head of the organising committee of the hugely successful Paris Games -- as an IOC member could hurt his chances as members may see him as a future president.

Lappartient is a proponent of bringing Russia back in from the cold.

"They are destined to naturally regain a place in the world of sport," he told AFP.

Juan Antonio Samaranch Junior (ESP)

The 65-year-old, son of the man who as IOC president from 1980-2001 transformed it into a commercial powerhouse, is a big player within the movement.

Samaranch Junior is a former perfume salesman and banker who is in his second stint as an IOC vice-president.

Media savvy and an excellent communicator, he has been on the coordinating committees for three Winter Olympics, serving as chair for the 2022 Beijing Games.

So after over two decades within the IOC, what can he promise the 100-plus members and the outside world he would bring to the presidency in what he admitted was a "complex world"?

"Experience, perspective, judgement and collaboration," he told AFP.

Kirsty Coventry (ZIM)

Coventry bids to become not only the first woman but also the first person from Africa to head the IOC and at 41 she would be the youngest.

She has an impressive Olympic record with seven swimming medals, including two golds. Then-Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe described her as "golden girl" in 2008.

She has forged a successful career in sports administration since retiring from the pool in 2016, becoming Zimbabwe's sports minister in 2019.

Coventry has been an IOC member since 2013 and she has chaired the IOC Athlete's Commission, and joined the IOC Executive Board in 2018.

She heads the Coordination Commission for the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane.

She has defended herself against criticism for accepting to be sports minister in a Zimbabwean government whose election in 2023 was described as neither "free nor fair."

"I have taken it upon myself to change a lot of policies within my country and how things are done," she said.

Prince Feisal Al-Hussein (JOR)

Younger brother of Jordan's King Abdullah II, Prince Feisal is bidding to become the first Asian president of the IOC. The 61-year-old set up Generations For Peace, a non-profit peace-building organisation using sporting programmes in 2007.

Morinari Watanabe (JPN)

He has already broken the mould in being the first Asian president of the gymnastics federation.

Watanabe, 66, the son of a Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor, is proposing to host the Olympics simultaneously in five cities across five continents in a bid to reduce costs and let the whole world share Games fever.

Johan Eliasch (SWE/GBR)

The Swedish-born billionaire businessman and environmentalist has been International Ski Federation president since 2021.

The 63-year-old has only been an IOC member since July, but says he has the skillset to take the movement forward.

"I have been an adviser to governments on protecting the environment and taking action on climate change," he told AFP.

"I have been very involved in technology, I have run a major company. I run the biggest winter sports federation, which provides 55 percent of all events in the Winter Games.

"If they are looking for somebody with a lot of experience and expertise, I am your man."