IOC VP Samaranch downplays being favorite to win presidential bid

With suspicions growing that he may become the next IOC president Thursday, Juan Antonio Samaranch played down his possible status as favorite on the eve of voting.

"I admire you guys very much for the capacity sometimes," Samaranch told reporters Wednesday, "to predict what the result will be. I really don't know."

The most open presidential contest in the modern International Olympic Committee history is now widely seen as narrowing to three of the seven candidates: IOC vice president Samaranch and a pair of two-time Olympic gold medalists, Sebastian Coe and Kirsty Coventry.

Coventry, the 41-year-old sports minister of Zimbabwe, would be the first woman and first African to lead the IOC in its 131 years.

"I'm biased so I'm going to say yes," she said Wednesday, when asked if it was time for a female president. "Let's create some change, let's make sure that happens."

All the candidates and their voters are in the exclusive club of IOC members currently numbering 109.

Samaranch said votes were precious and confidential, and suggested voters must "forget about" pressures, recommendations and identity politics. "Each one has to make sure that they use that important right they have to vote however they feel," he said.

Coe, who has a comprehensive track record as an athlete, former British lawmaker and 2012 London Olympics organizer, offered just brief comments when candidates ran a gauntlet of global media during a break on the first of three days of the IOC's annual meeting. "I'm in good shape but it's only lunchtime," quipped the 68-year-old president of track and field's World Athletics.

The winner Thursday formally takes office on June 23 as Bach reaches his maximum 12 years in office.