Denis Oswald of Switzerland made it five Friday and three in one week, announcing that he, too, is now a candidate for the International Olympic Committee presidency. Oswald, experienced in virtually all facets of the movement -- as an athlete, IOC member and administrator -- sent a one-page letter to his fellow members that both declared his intent to run and outlined his extensive qualifications:
"My 40 years of service to the Olympic movement have provided me with a comprehensive understanding of our organization as well as its role and significance in the wider world.
"This knowledge and experience ... will enable me to advance the Olympic cause and enhance the IOC's authority as the leader of world sport.''
Oswald, 66, joins a list that includes C.K. Wu of Chinese Taipei (who announced Thursday), Richard Carrión of Puerto Rico (Wednesday) and Ser Miang Ng of Singapore and Thomas Bach of Germany (both earlier).
Sergei Bubka of Ukraine is also expected to jump in, perhaps as soon as next week.
The IOC will select the successor to Jacques Rogge Sept. 10 in Buenos Aires.
Rogge has been president since 2001. He took over from Juan Antonio Samaranch, who served for the 21 years before that.
That 2001 presidential election saw five candidates.
An intriguing back story to Oswald's announcement Friday is that some had been suggesting to him -- and quite directly -- that he consider options at the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Instead, he said in the letter, "In the coming weeks, I will have the opportunity to present to you my vision and philosophy which will inspire my actions on your behalf and that of the IOC."
He scheduled a news conference for June 3 in Lausanne, Switzerland, where the IOC has its headquarters, to outline his plans. Oswald is based in nearby Colombier, near Neuchâtel.
If all IOC elections are based in large measure on relationships, it's also an inescapable fact that they are also math problems.
Oswald's entry into the race now means there are two western European candidates -- he and Bach. What Oswald's campaign means for Bach, the first to declare his candidacy and widely presumed to be the front-runner, is immediately unclear.
Oswald has, as he said in Friday's letter, been immersed in the movement at every level.
He competed in rowing at the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Games, winning a bronze medal in Mexico City in 1968.
A lawyer for many major companies since the mid-1970s, he has been president of the rowing federation, which goes by the acronym FISA, since 1989 -- his term there ends later this year -- and an IOC member since 1991.
He served as president of the Assn. of Summer Olympic International Federations from 2000-12; that gave him a spot during those years on the IOC's policy-making executive board.
Since 1984, he has been an arbitrator at sport's top court, the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport; since 1994, he has been a CAS mediator.
Oswald served as chair of the IOC's coordination committees for both the 2004 Athens Games (despite any number of challenges) and the 2012 London Olympics (now a benchmark for future Games).