Ruth Gbagbi, left, won the Ivory Coast's lone taekwondo medal at Tokyo 2020 ©Getty Images

Renowned coach and World Championship medallist Patrice Remarck has joined the race to be the next Ivorian Taekwondo Federation (FITKD) President. 

Remarck is the third candidate to declare their intention to stand in next month's election, after Alain Zunon and Jean-Marc Yace.

Yace was unanimously recommended by the FITKD Board to be installed as the new President and appeared certain to take up the role, but the emergence of two challengers could now prevent him from doing so.

"Join forces for excellence" is Remarck's campaign slogan, and the official can fall back on a decorated career as an athlete and coach.

Remarck won bronze medals at the 1983 and 1985 World Championships in Copenhagen and Seoul, and is also a two-time World Games medallist. 

Remarck won a bronze medal at the inaugural World Games in Santa Clara in 1985, and repeated the trick in London four years later.

He has coached athletes including Aaron Cook - who represented Britain and later Moldova, winning two senior European titles - Malian world champion Daba Modibo Keïta and Senegal's Bineta Diédhiou, an Olympic flagbearer and world bronze medallist.

Remark was also head coach of the United States national team for a period.

"I especially want to dedicate this candidacy to all the actors of the Ivorian Taekwondo ecosystem and more particularly the masters of the clubs, the women and the young people to whom I entrust my candidacy," Remarck said, per Abdijan.net.

Daba Modibo Keïta is among the leading athletes to have been coached by Patrice Remarck ©Getty Images
Daba Modibo Keïta is among the leading athletes to have been coached by Patrice Remarck ©Getty Images

Yace is the Mayor of Cocody and the Honorary Consul of Mexico in the Ivory Coast.

Zunon in turn has been credited with discovering the Ivory Coast's Firmin Zokou, a silver medallist at the 2015 World Championships in Moscow.

Bamba Cheick Daniel is stepping down after 12 years at the helm of the FITKD.

During his time as FITKD President, Bamba helped the Ivory Coast become a major force in taekwondo. 

Cheick Sallah Cissé earned an Olympic title in the men's under-80 kilograms class at Rio 2016, while Ruth Gbagbi claimed a bronze medal in the women's 67kg event.

Gbagbi, the world champion in 2017, won another bronze at Tokyo 2020.

The Presidential election is scheduled for October 30, two days after the inauguration of a new taekwondo facility named after Alassane Ouattara, the nation's President of more than a decade. 

A conference room, computer room, library and FITKD offices will be included along with a 1,500-seat competition hall.