The departing Fifa president Sepp Blatter's 16 years as an International Olympic Committee member ended on Monday after he opted against seeking re-election.
Blatter was among a group of IOC members up for re-election for another eight-year term but the IOC president Thomas Bach said the Swiss had informed him by letter on July 23rd that he would not stand again.
Speaking on the final day of the IOC’s general assembly in Kuala Lumpur, Bach said: “He does not deem it to be appropriate to stand for re-election for eight years knowing that after seven months his term would come to an end.” Blatter, who is beset by a corruption scandal at Fifa and whose presidential term will end following an election in February, was not in attendance.
Blatter, an IOC member since 1999, would have had to retire from his IOC term next year because of age restrictions – the Swiss turns 80 in March.
Two other IOC members were not re-elected due to age restrictions – the former World Archery president Jim Easton and Colombia's Andrés Botero.
In total 14 IOC members were re-elected for eight-year terms, while Gunilla Lindberg of Sweden was re-elected to another four-year term on the IOC's executive board.
Meanwhile, two new members were elected: Serbia's Nenad Lalovic, the head of wrestling's world governing body, and Diagna Ndiaye, the president of Senegal's national Olympic committee.
