BEVERLY HILLS, March 11, (THEWILL) – The President of FIFA and International Olympics Committee (IOC) member, Gianni Infantino, has joined the opening of the 137th IOC Session and delivered the following message to Thomas Bach on the occasion of his re-election as IOC President for a third term.
Infantino said: “Hello Mr President, dear Thomas. I have just three things to say: congratulations, thank you and I am looking forwards.
“Congratulations for Agenda 2020 and the way you have been implementing it. A masterpiece, clearly. Congratulations as well, for the way you mastered this pandemic. You navigated all of the sports movement; all of us through this.
“Thank you, Mr President, to you, to your team, to Christophe De Kepper, his team, to the Executive Board, to all members of the IOC, because I am coming from a team sport, but this is valid as well for individual sports. Alone nobody can win and we all must work as a team. We have one captain, and that captain is you. For this, our thanks are with you.
“Finally, dear President, I am looking very much forward to the “+5”. You are right. We cannot ever be satisfied in sport. We always have to look forwards, and when we achieve Agenda 2020, we need to look at something else to keep us always at the sharp end.
“I am looking very much forward to the “+5”; all 15 new elements of this agenda, but most importantly as well, the collaboration of working together with you, Mr President, with your team, with the same passion, with the same energy, as we did so far. Protecting, most importantly, the values of our sports. So, President, dear Thomas, in conclusion, well done, keep going, and see you soon.”
Thomas Bach OLY is a German lawyer and former Olympic fencer and is the ninth and current President of the International Olympic Committee, and a former member of the German Olympic Sports Confederation Executive Board.
The champion Thomas Bach was re-elected for an additional four-year term as President of the IOC. At the 137th IOC Session held virtually today, the 67-year-old German received 93 yes and 1 no votes from the 94 valid votes.
Thomas Bach, who won gold with the German foil fencing team at the Olympic Games Montreal 1976, was elected as IOC President at the IOC Session in 2013 in Buenos Aires for a first eight-year term. This term will finish on the closing day of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 on 8 August this year, as decided by the IOC Executive Board. His second term as IOC President will start immediately after, and will conclude in 2025.
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