COSTA NAVARINO, Greece (AFP) — International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach refused to be drawn on whether he had campaigned for Kirsty Coventry to succeed him in this week’s election.

Coventry, a Zimbabwean gold medal-winning swimmer, is believed to be one of the three top candidates in the election, along with Juan Antonio Samaranch Junior and Sebastian Coe.

Bach is rumored to be trying to persuade IOC members to vote for Coventry, who is part of his inner circle.

If she is elected by her fellow IOC members in Costa Navarino, Greece, on Thursday, 41-year-old Coventry would be the first woman to lead the Olympic movement.

In a press conference on Monday after a meeting of the IOC’s Executive Board, Bach refused to be drawn on the issue.

“What I felt obliged to say about the profile of my successor, I have said in Paris (during the 2024 Olympics), explaining my decision beyond reasonable governance,” the German said.

“I think it’s the right time, because it’s a new time, which requires new leaders, and I have nothing to add to this.”

Bach said that when he leaves his post in June after 12 years, he will be at peace with himself.

“I feel that I have given to the Olympic movement what I, in German, would say, ‘Ich bin mit mir am Reinen.’ This is in fact... I have a clear conscience, so to say, in the present.”