You're reading: The New York Times: In I.O.C., new obstacles for an expert at clearing them

MOSCOW — It is strange to see Sergei Bubka — the man who broke 35 world records — as an underdog.

Yet here Bubka finds himself, still brimming with energy and ambition at age 49 and now fighting the odds and the political currents as he tries to make the leap from star pole-vaulter to president of the International Olympic Committee.

Though the outgoing president, Jacques Rogge, was an Olympian in yachting, the I.O.C. has never had a global sports star at its head. In a celebrity-obsessed era that could provide advantages in terms of leverage and reach, Bubka, to his credit, is not attempting to make the leap from player to league president uniquely on his pole-vaulting record.

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