Wu Ching-kuo (吳經國), Taiwan’s only International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, has been termed a dark horse among potential contenders for the committee’s presidency later this year, a recent report said.
If Wu decides to run as a candidate in the election, which is scheduled for September in Argentina, he will be the first Taiwanese to seek the No. 1 position in the world’s most influential sports organization.
Wu declined to confirm whether he would throw his hat into the ring, saying only that he would give it serious consideration.
Wu, 66, was elected last May as a new member of the 15-member IOC Executive Board, the decisionmaking body of the Olympic movement.
Having been an IOC member since 1988, he is the first Taiwanese to be elected to the executive board of the IOC. He is also president of the International Boxing Association (AIBA).
Wu “appears the dark horse after the AIBA president showed himself an election master in becoming the leader of world boxing in 2006 and then again in crushing Ireland’s Pat McQuaid last year in an election to join the IOC Executive Board,” said a report by insidethegames.biz, a Web site that provides news on the Olympics, Paralympics and Commonwealth Games.
Incumbent IOC president Jacques Rogge of Belgium will end his 12-year-term this year.
An election to replace him is to take place during an IOC session in September in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. Other potential candidates include IOC vice president Thomas Bach of Germany; Puerto Rico’s Richard Carrion, chair of the IOC’s Finance Commission and Audit Commission; and Ng Ser Miang of Singapore, also a vice president of the IOC, insidethegames said.
However, none of the potential contenders have publicly stated their intention to stand for the IOC presidency.
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