MOSCOW, August 14. /TASS/. International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach’s decision not to run for another presidential term in the world’s governing Olympic body is final, as he is not one to go back on his word, Russia’s ex-Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov told TASS on Wednesday.

Last Saturday, Bach officially announced that he had decided against running in the IOC presidential election, which will be held at the organization’s session in Greece in March 2025.

"Me and Bach have known each other for a long time," Kolobkov said in an interview with TASS. "We did have a lot of disagreements and in regard to the Russian national team he showed weakness and yielded to the influence of particular countries, thus violating the principles of Olympism, in my opinion."

"However, he is an influential sports executive, who usually doesn't go back on his word," Russia’s former sports chief continued. "I believe his decision to step down is final. The only way he will change his mind is if the entire sports community, from the presidents of international federations to the heads of NOCs [National Olympic Committees] - publicly address him. But I believe this is highly unlikely."

Thomas Bach, who won an Olympic gold medal in fencing for Germany, was elected president of the IOC in 2013 at the 125th IOC session in Buenos Aires for a term of eight years.

Bach, 70, won his Olympic gold in the team foil competition at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. After serving his initial eight-year term as IOC president, he ran for another four-year term in the 2021 elections, where he was the sole candidate and was ultimately re-elected.

At the 141st IOC Session in India’s Mumbai last October some IOC members floated the idea of amending the Olympic Charter so that Bach could be re-elected for yet another term as president of the global organization.

Athletes from Russia were subjected to a series of sanctions since IOC President Bach took the reign over the IOC.