Thomas Bach has not let the grass grow under his feet in the 205 or so days since he was elected as the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) ninth President.

Even so, there is no doubting the most significant announcement made under the 60-year-old German's Presidency to date - and it came on Tuesday.

This is when he let it be known that he had finished piecing together the complex membership mosaic of 30 Commissions through which the IOC directs the world's most influential sporting movement.

Don't let the fact that Tuesday was April Fools' day, well, fool you (although it might, admittedly, be a reflection of the former Olympic fencer's sometimes quirky sense of humour): this was, to use the technical term, Big Potatoes.

If you make the obvious comparison to a political reshuffle, this was about as major as you can get.

It is "really going to represent a true new government and leadership of the IOC," according to Michael Payne, the former IOC marketing director, who remarked additionally on the "variety and breadth" of the appointments.

"It is very much a new generation."

So who are these new leaders?

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has taken great care in piecing together the membership of the 30 Commissions ©Getty Images



Well, I don't know if you would categorise him as new necessarily, but one man who is clearly going to be a most important figure in world sport over the next few years is John Coates, the 63-year-old Australian lawyer and former rowing cox.

Coates was already President of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the Swiss-based body used increasingly as a tribunal of last resort in sporting disputes, and chairman of the IOC Coordination Commission that will monitor Tokyo's preparations for the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, not to mention one of the four IOC vice-presidents.

Now he has also taken over - from Bach himself - as chairman of both the IOC's Juridical Commission and its Sport and Law Commission.

Since there is mounting expectation that the early years of Bach's Presidency will be a period of considerable change in the Movement, the Juridical Commission role, in particular, may land the Australian with a heavy extra workload in translating these changes into Olympic statutes.

John Coates is likely to have a heavy workload with chairmanship of the IOC's Juridical Commission and its Sport and Law Commission added to his duties ©Getty Images



Another, whom the "new leader" label does fit, at least in IOC terms, is Tsunekazu Takeda, the 66-year-old great grandson of a Japanese Emperor, who is taking over as chairman of the Marketing Commission.

A key task for the former show jumper, who played a crucial role in Tokyo 2020's victory, will be to ginger up growth in the IOC's TOP worldwide sponsorship programme, which has slowed in recent times while revenue generated by local marketing programmes has powered ahead.

His appointment may, in part, amount to an acknowledgement by Olympic leaders that they could get more out of Asia's dynamic economies, particularly when both the 2018 and 2020 Games will be staged in the continent.

The recent Panasonic sponsorship extension, rumoured to have produced a substantial price increase for the IOC, may turn out to be a promising first step.

I do wonder whether this supremely diplomatic man might not be faced with some delicate decisions over sponsorship product categories should tugs of war between TOP and local marketing programmes, including Tokyo 2020's, develop.

The vast majority of 2017-20 TOP sponsors are already signed up, however, so if tussles do materialise on Takeda's watch, they are more likely to involve the 2022 and 2024 hosts than the Japanese capital.

It will be interesting to see how Tsunekazu Takeda (left) will handle delicate decisions he may have to make as chairman of the Marketing Commission ©The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images



Another showjumper, the Argentinian businessman Gerardo Werthein, 58, is also set to emerge as a key IOC figure in his new role as chairman of the Radio and Television Commission formerly chaired by Jacques Rogge, Bach's predecessor as IOC President.

The South American's presence on the critical TV Rights and New Media Commission – which Bach will chair as Rogge did before him – may prove just as significant.

Though the IOC President's involvement signifies just how vital broadcasting rights fees are to the Movement's financial wellbeing, it is hard to believe that even a leader as hands-on as Bach will actually head for the coal-face and participate directly in contract negotiations, which can be all-consuming.

The likelihood must be that Werthein, the only commission member from the Americas, now that Puerto Rico's Richard Carrión has stepped back, will be a key figure in some of these critical negotiations.

As President of the Argentine Olympic Committee, Werthein played a prominent role in Buenos Aires' successful campaign to host the 2018 Youth Olympics.

As Werthein and Takeda's presence shows, Bach has not been afraid to thrust responsibility upon relatively new IOC members.

Larry Probst (left) pictured with IOC President Thomas Bach, will be able to draw on the experience of his predecessor as Press Commission chairman, Kevan Gosper ©Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for USOC



This point is highlighted even more by the entrustment of important commissions to members of the 2013 intake, Larry Probst of the United States and Alexander Zhukov of Russia.

Zhukov is to chair the Evaluation Commission for the 2022 Winter Games candidate cities, while Probst takes over at the Press Commission.

In this role, it is hard to imagine he will not value the counsel of his long-serving predecessor Kevan Gosper, who remains as an honorary Commission member.

Gosper is not the only example of a retiring chairman who will continue to sit on the commission he used to preside over, in what seems an eminently sensible feature of Bach's extensive revamp.

The care bestowed on this exercise also, I think, shines through in the IOC's apparent concern to keep Turkey closely involved, in spite of the disappointment of Istanbul's loss to Tokyo in the race for the 2020 Games.

(It is my conviction that the IOC would very much like the Turkish city to try again for 2024.)

Not only will IOC member Ugur Erdener step into Arne Ljungqvist's big shoes as chairman of the Medical Commission, but Istanbul 2020 bid leader Hasan Arat, one of those people capable of radiating bonhomie 24/7, will serve on Takeda's Marketing Commission.

In a clear nod to Turkey's importance in the Olympic Movement, Istanbul 2020 bid leader Hasan Arat will serve on the Marketing Commission ©Getty Images



While the announcement made much of the fact that 22 more positions are to be held by women than in 2013, I am not clear that more raw power in the Movement will be wielded by women than heretofore.

I may stand to be corrected on this point if the Princess Royal chooses to exercise the power that her new role as chairman of the Nominations Commission, the body that puts forward candidates for IOC membership, in theory confers on her.

Two final points: former IOC Presidential candidate and 36 years an IOC member Dick Pound of Canada is plainly intent on not fading away, having joined the Sport and Law Commission as well as maintaining his seat on the Juridical Commission.

I am also intrigued by European Olympic Committees President Patrick Hickey's new role as Delegate Member for Autonomy, a word frequently on Bach's lips.

Hickey told insidethegames this week that he saw his new role as "a great challenge".

David Owen worked for 20 years for the Financial Times in the United States, Canada, France and the UK. He ended his FT career as sports editor after the 2006 World Cup and is now freelancing, including covering the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2010 World Cup and London 2012. Owen's Twitter feed can be accessed here.