IOC’s Bach sees ‘new world order’ ahead of LA Olympics and says Trump will 'fully support' Games

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Thomas Bach says he feels a rare calm in his final weeks as IOC president even as a “new world order" gains speed ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Bach led the International Olympic Committee through two locked-down Games in a global pandemic and several affected by Russian doping and military aggression, among other crises.

His successor will be elected March 20 and inherit an IOC financially secure with future Olympic hosts that today look stable and reliable.

Still, the biggest event for the next IOC president, the L.A. Games, could yet challenge Bach’s faith in the Olympics' power to unite the world in peaceful competition and mutual acceptance.

“We have a new world order in the making, and this making … will not happen without rumbling,” Bach said this week, without criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump.

Signature Bach policies have been gender parity and inclusive acceptance of all 206 national teams, plus refugee athletes. Political neutrality is an ideal Bach clings to even as Trump has warned of denying visas to athletes based on the government's gender interpretations.

“I am also convinced that President Trump and his administration will fully support the Olympic Games,” Bach told The Associated Press in a rare interview at IOC headquarters.

"He likes sport, so there I don’t see a risk.”

The American people, Bach added, "appreciate and love that the Games are about sport but they are about more than sport. They will want to welcome the athletes from all over the world.”

The IOC has defended female boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting — the Paris Olympic gold medalists. Both had been disqualified from the 2023 world championships run by the Russian-backed International Boxing Association, which said they failed eligibility tests.

“These two women boxers have been born as women, they have been raised as women, they have competed as women and nobody ever claimed even that they are transgender,” Bach said in AP's interview.

“What happened there was a Russian-led misinformation campaign which then distorted the truth, the facts, and now we have this unfortunate situation that these two athletes are considered to be transgender. But. They. Are. Not.”

Before the Paris Olympics, Bach warned of “deeply disturbing” trends, including “narrow self-interests trumping the rule of law.”

“What I see is very heated discussion in the United States,” Bach told the AP. “But this is for the citizens of the United States to have. Our values are very clear and on those values the Olympic Games are based.”

Bach's presidency since 2013 saw two Games impacted by COVID-19; one shadowed by Korean political tensions; several affected by Russian doping and military aggression; and one almost implode with a chaotic local organizing team in Rio de Janeiro that pulled the IOC into vote-buying allegations.

"I’m experiencing the first period during my presidency where I do not have an existential problem of the Olympic Games or the Olympic Movement on my desk,” Bach said.

The 71-year-old German lawyer and 1976 Olympic gold medalist in fencing leaves office in June.

“I’m fit and very happy in great health."

A key decision early in Bach’s presidency was extending NBC’s broadcast rights in the U.S. through 2032. Renewing or finding a new partner is a big decision for the next president. Bach suggested a free-to-air network is important.

“You can say of streaming, ‘They are paying such a lot of money, let’s go for streaming.’ But what does it mean for our values?” Bach said. “The Olympic Games has to be accessible to everybody and not only the ones that can afford it.”

The IOC also must refresh its slate of top-tier sponsors after three from Japan left last year. Would the IOC take a view on signing an Elon Musk company such as Starlink?

“From what I see he is busy with other things than to think about Olympic sponsorship,” Bach said. “I did not study this kind of question.”

Booing the U.S. anthem at sports events is becoming routine in Canada, and this week outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it will not stop.

A U.S. vs. Canada hockey game is likely next February at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Games, perhaps for the gold medal.

“This (booing) would not be great television and this would be against the Olympic values,” Bach said, predicting “all the teams, all the athletes, will enjoy the respect and support of the audience.”

Russia was banned from all team sports in Paris and its path is unclear back into ice hockey, Vladimir Putin’s favorite winter sport.

The wider issue of Russian participation at Milan-Cortina is for Bach’s successor, though his administration has already urged winter sports bodies with blanket bans on Russians to review them.

“The mission of the Olympic Movement is to unify,” he said. “This is something the winter sports federations should study very carefully.”

Bach and predecessor Jacques Rogge were Olympic athletes who rose to represent the IOC and meet with various heads of state.

“That is one of the privileges as IOC president is that you get everybody on the phone,” Bach said. “I haven’t experienced any situation where somebody would have said, ‘I am not interested to talk.’”

The late Henry Kissinger “gave very valuable advice” in real-world diplomacy.

Bach’s potential as a future Olympic leader was clear from 1981 when he and Sebastian Coe, a candidate to succeed him, helped to represent athletes at a key IOC meeting in Baden-Baden, West Germany. He later worked for Horst Dassler and Adidas when they were major power brokers in world sports and reportedly were monitored for the Stasi, East Germany’s secret police.

Asked if there was a Stasi file on him, Bach said: “Not that I knew. I cannot imagine."

Bach had warm relations with Russian President Putin during the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. Bach and the Olympics have been targets of Russian misinformation, cyber attacks and deep fake videos during the past decade of sanctioning the state-backed doping scandal and fallout from the invasion of Ukraine.

Bach’s legacy includes changing how hosts are picked. No more blockbuster contests are vulnerable to vote-buying.

"The atmosphere was just not clean, not sober. It put the whole credibility of the IOC in doubt.”

There were no allegations of wrongdoing in how the French Alps, Brisbane and Salt Lake City were selected as hosts of the Olympics from 2030-2034.

Bach’s last day after a three-month presidential transition is June 23, officially Olympic Day.

After that?

“The first four weeks I guess I will sleep,” he said. “Then I will do a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela all alone and hope I get some inspiration then for my future.”

AP Olympics at https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, toasts a glass of champagne with the International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach during the official reception of IOC for Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics organizing committee on Monday, Feb. 24, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti Kremlin, Mikhail Klimentyev, Presidential Press Service, File)

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach talks to the Associated Press during an interview at the Olympic House, in Lausanne, Switzerland, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP)

FILE - From left, United Nations' Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach and French President Emmanuel Macron speak, as they arrive, in Paris, France, for the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP, File)

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach poses for the photographer prior to an interview with the Associated Press at the Olympic House, in Lausanne, Switzerland, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP)

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach talks to the Associated Press during an interview at the Olympic House, in Lausanne, Switzerland, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.

Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.

Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.

U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.

"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”

Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.

Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.

“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”

Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.

U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.

Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.

Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.

Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.

"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.

The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.

The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.

“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.

“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”

The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)