The year 2025 was marked by numerous elections. The most publicized saw Kirsty Coventry chosen to succeed Thomas Bach at the head of the International Olympic Committee. The International Federations also largely voted to decide their leaders for the coming years. Frank Games goes around to recap the results, with a few new faces to report from the badminton and archery sides.
Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul and Petra Sörling, two rare women in the landscape
In most federations, suspense was absent. The only candidate, David Lappartient, was re-elected for a third term at the head of the International Cycling Union in September. Same case for Chungwon Choue, who has led World Taekwondo since 2004 and who served again until 2029. Marius Vizer is doing almost as well: re-elected for a sixth term, he has chaired the International Judo Federation since 2007. No opponent either for Shawn Tay, nor for Mohammed Jalood, respectively reappointed at the head of the World Dance Sports Federation (WDSF) and the International Federation weightlifting (IWF).
Also the only candidate, Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul became the second woman to take over the presidency of the World Badminton Federation in April. She thus follows in the footsteps of the pioneer Lu Shengrong, at the helm of the BWF from 1993 to 2001. On the other hand, the International Climbing Federation (IFSC) offered a duel. Outgoing president Marco Scolaris, in office since 2007, emerged victorious against Belgian Tijl Smitz. The Italian received 48 votes, against 35 for his rival. The prize for suspense, however, goes to the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), whose very eventful Congress resulted in a narrow victory for Petra Sörling in May. The Swede was elected for a second term with 104 votes, only two more than Khalil Al-Mohannadi, who challenged the regularity of the vote, in vain.
Swedish Petra Sörling is one of the rare women to lead an IF.
New era for World Archery, continuity for World Rowing and the IHF
At the beginning of September, World Archery opened a new chapter after twenty years of Ugur Erdener’s presidency. Having reached the limit of the number of mandates, he was a spectator of the match between Greg Easton and Tom Dielen, which largely turned in favor of the American (208 votes against 96). A few weeks later, Jean-Christophe Rolland was elected for a fourth term at the head of World Rowing. The Frenchman started this final mandate in the best possible way since he received 115 votes out of 115.
The International Handball Federation, for its part, kept the suspense going by organizing its congress in Cairo last weekend. There were four on the starting line: the outgoing president Hassan Moustafa and three challengers, Franc Bobinac, Gerd Butzeck and Tjark De Lange. Moustafa was comfortably re-elected for a seventh term with 73.3% of the vote. His reign has lasted since 2000 and will last another four years if his health allows it, the Egyptian being 81 years old.
A certain number of IFs held their elections during the last quarter of 2024. This was the case for those managing fencing, golf, gymnastics, hockey, triathlon, modern pentathlon, horse riding, sailing, volleyball and even rugby. Other elections will take place in 2026, notably among the IFs governing winter sports.
