GENEVA -- The International Olympic Committee paid president Thomas Bach $350,000 in 2024, the Olympic body said Friday -- a 10% raise for his final full year in office after a two-year freeze.
The sum included a salary-like payment -- or "indemnity" in Olympic language -- of 275,000 euros ($317,000), according to its annual report Friday. That is a relatively small figure compared to soccer bodies that, like the IOC, are based in Switzerland and count annual revenue in billions.
Bach on Monday will formally hand over to president-elect Kirsty Coventry, 41, who will start an eight-year term as the Olympic body's first woman leader and first from Africa. The two-time Olympic champion in swimming left her job as sports minister of Zimbabwe after winning the seven-candidate IOC election in March.
The IOC has classified Bach, 71, as a volunteer on a full-time executive mission who "should not have to finance activities related to his function from his personal savings." It is unclear if Coventry will be a salaried president of the IOC instead of officially a volunteer.
The presidential indemnity likely will be reviewed later this year, the IOC said Friday.
Bach's annual payment was decided by the IOC's ethics commission on the stated principle "the president should not financially benefit from his position." The German lawyer held a series of business consultancies and board of director seats before being elected in 2013 to lead the IOC.
The IOC paid Bach 225,000 euros ($259,000) in 2020. It rose to 275,000 euros in the year of his reelection, 2021, then was frozen for each of the next two years.
Bach, who also gets living allowances, was paid from 12% to 15% what soccer gives its top elected officials.
FIFA paid its president, Gianni Infantino, $5.2 million in taxable salary and bonus last year, plus other expenses. Infantino also is among the 109 IOC members and so can claim $7,000 each year for office costs and a $450 daily allowance when on Olympic business.
UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin got almost $4.3 million in taxable income last year, including $300,000 from FIFA as one of its vice presidents.
International sports bodies have typically published details of leadership pay as part of governance reforms, particularly after corruption scandals in soccer.