Taiwan's world boxing chief (AIBA) President Ching-kuo Wu announced his intention to run for International Olympic Committee president on Thursday, saying the Olympic movement should be bigger than just the Games. IOC Executive Board member Wu is the fourth IOC member following Germany's Thomas Bach and Singaporean Ng Ser Miang, both IOC vice presidents, and Puerto Rico's Richard Carrion to decide to run for the post.
The election is set for September 10 at the IOC session in Buenos Aires. Jacques Rogge, who succeeded Juan Antonio Samaranch in 2001, sees his two-term presidency come to a mandatory end in September. "The thought and concept to develop the IOC and Olympic movement beyond the realisation of the Olympism is the core principle of my candidature," he told reporters in Taipei.
"The IOC and the Olympic Games have much more power to positively impact society than any other organisation and project in this world," said Wu. Several more candidates could emerge, with Swiss sports administrator Denis Oswald and former Olympic pole vault champion Sergei Bubka seen as possible contenders.
The deadline for candidacies is June 10. Wu took over the troubled AIBA in 2006, managing to restore its Olympic credibility after a string of changes to rules and judging following controversies at the Athens 2004 Olympics that led to an IOC ban on funds for the federation.
The 66-year-old architect, who has a member of the powerful IOC Executive Board since last year and an IOC member for 25 years, was urged earlier this week by his own federation to make a bid for the presidency. Wu, educated in England, oversaw a hugely successful boxing tournament at the London Games where women boxers made a glittering Olympic debut.
He was also in charge of designing the Samaranch Memorial in Tianjin, China, which houses the late IOC president's private collections and was officially inaugurated by Rogge late last month.
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