IPC sends congratulations to new IOC President Thomas Bach

“On behalf of the Paralympic Movement I would like to congratulate Thomas Bach on his election to succeed Jacques Rogge as IOC President. Thomas is a long-time advocate of the Paralympic Movement and we look forward to working with him to further develop our relationship in the coming years.”

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has congratulated Thomas Bach after he was elected the ninth President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Tuesday (10 September) at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

After two rounds of votes Bach beat off rival candidates Sergey Bubka, Richard Carrión, Ser Miang Ng, Denis Oswald and Ching-Kuo Wu to succeed President Jacques Rogge whose 12-year term in office ended with the closing of the Session.

Sir Philip Craven, IPC President said: “On behalf of the Paralympic Movement I would like to congratulate Thomas Bach on his election to succeed Jacques Rogge as IOC President.

“Thomas is a long-time advocate of the Paralympic Movement and we look forward to working with him to further develop our relationship in the coming years.”

Last July at the 124th IOC session in London, Sir Philip and his IOC counterpart, Rogge, signed an extension to the IPC-IOC Co-operation Agreement which was originally signed in June 2006, meaning that the Paralympic Games will be held in the same city as the Olympic Games through to the Tokyo 2020 Games.

The IPC President was also full of praise to outgoing President Rogge.

Sir Philip said: “President Rogge was elected in 2001, the same year I became IPC President, and over the last 12 years we have both worked together for the benefit of both our Movements. The relationship between our two organisations has never been stronger.

“Without his support, the Paralympic Games would not be the sporting spectacle it is today nor would they have grown in to the world’s third biggest sporting event. On behalf of the Paralympic Movement I would like to thank him for his co-operation and support which has spanned six editions of the Games.

“Thanks to the IOC under President Rogge, the IPC and our members can plan for the next seven years with the knowledge of where the Paralympics will be staged, whilst at the same time benefiting from significant financial support. I personally wish him well for the future.”

In addition to latest IOC-IPC co-operation agreement, the IOC and IPC signed another partnership in July 2012 whereby the IOC and IPC have identified new IOC programmes and activities which the IPC could participate in, including IF development, IOC Olympic Solidarity and Transfer of Knowledge. The parties also agreed to discuss further areas and projects of mutual interest and collaboration. In particular, this includes further co-operation in the commercial area and to explore the benefits of a closer co-operation on the Games planning and delivery functions.