Alexander Zhukov #5
Zhukov was elected president of the Russian Olympic Committee in May, taking over from Leonid Tyagachyov in the wake of a disastrous showing at the Vancouver Games. Russia placed a disappointing 11th in the overall medals table.
The 54-year-old is charged with bringing on-stream special programs for Russian winter sports athletes to ensure the country performs well on home soil at the Sochi Games. Those initiatives will take shape in the coming year.
Zhukov, a key figure in the successful 2014 bid team, also chairs quarterly meetings of the Sochi organizing committee’s supervisory board. One of Russia's deputy prime ministers, he appears to be working well with Vladimir Putin's Olympics czar, Dmitry Kozak, sports minister Vitaly Mutko and Dmitry Chernyshenko, president and CEO of Sochi 2014.
Unranked in 2010
Thomas Bach #6
Bach's re-election as president of the DOSB – the German National Olympic Committee - earlier this month came as no surprise.
But the IOC vice president continues to wield significant influence onOlympic matters, and may have one eye on the presidency. That campaign will have to wait as he throws his weight behind the Munich 2018 Winter Olympic bid in the coming months.
In conjunction with bid chair Katarina Witt and CEO Bernhard Schwank, he will be working his way around the European bloc of voters and those on other continents to win support for the German bid.
Bach, 57, is touted as a strong candidate to succeed Jacques Rogge who stands down as IOC president in 2013. A win for Munich will enhance his reputation heading into an Olympic year when campaigning for the IOC's top job will start in earnest.
As chairman of the board of trustees of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011 organizing committee, Bach has an important role to play in delivering a successful tournament. The 1976 Montreal Olympics fencing champion also chairs the Juridical Commission that has oversight of doping cases and legal issues involving the IOC.
2010 Ranking – #7
Written by Mark Bisson.
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