Ukraine's Bubka Joins Race For Chief IOC Post

Former Olympic pole vault champion Sergei Bubka

Ukraine's former Olympic pole vault champion Sergei Bubka has announced his candidacy to succeed International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge.

Bubka announced he would run for one of the office at a meeting of the IOC executive committee in St. Petersburg on May 28.

Bubka is currently president of Ukraine's National Olympic Committee and senior vice president of the International Association of Athletics Federations.

He won the Olympic pole vault gold medal in Seoul in 1988 and also won six world championships.

Bubka joins Germany's Thomas Bach, Singapore's Ng Ser Miang, C.K. Wu of Taiwan, Puerto Rico's Richard Carrion, and Denis Oswald of Switzerland in the race for the post of IOC chief.

The vote to decide who will replace Rogge will take place at the IOC's general session in Buenos Aires in September.

Based on reporting by AFP and pravda.com.ua