International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach will not seek to remain in the post at the end of his second term next year despite calls from members to stay on.
Bach, a German lawyer who has been in charge since 2013, surprised members at the end of their session in Paris on Saturday by saying he was asked to continue but won't attempt to extend his mandate.
That would have required a change in the Olympic charter that limits the president to a maximum of 12 years - an initial first eight-year term and a second four-year term - that he himself had helped draft.
"As a result of deep deliberations and extensive discussions ... I have come to the conclusion that I should not have my mandate extended beyond the limits stipulated in the Olympic Charter," Bach told the session ahead of the final day of the Paris Olympics.
"After 12 years in the office of IOC president, our organisation is best served with a change in leadership.
"New times are calling for new leaders."
The new IOC president will be elected in March next year at a session in ancient Olympia and will take over in June of that year, Bach said, to allow for a smooth transition.
No member has yet openly campaigned to succeed Bach.
An Olympic fencing champion in 1976 who joined the Olympic body as a member in 1991, Bach has ruled with an iron fist and virtually no opposing voices since taking over from his predecessor Jacques Rogge 11 years ago.
He introduced sweeping reforms for the faster introduction of sports on the Olympic program, the bidding process and the staging of the Games, reducing overall costs and making the prospect of the event more attractive to candidate cities.
