Should politicians be debarred from holding seats of power in Sports bodies and federations?

I think seats of power in any body should be held by persons with competence to hold that seat. They should have knowledge about running/conducting the sport but need not actually be players. Basically those roles are administrative and the person handling the job should be good at administration and also selfless. An ex player may be good at his sport but may be a failure at administration. So it is not so straightforward. In theory it does not matter whether the person is a politician or not as long as he does his job diligently. In practice we have come to see all politicians as selfish. But that is being judgemental. The main thing is to fix the way these people are appointed. If they are appointed by non-corrupt panels, then we have hope.

yes they should be barred from holding seats of POWER in sports bodies

Politicians should be barred from holding seats of power in government and everything in the world.

I agree there are too many board members who wield power to legitimize their power. I remember some years ago The Athletic Congress (TAC) was a money-making machine that, as far as I could tell, did nothing. (Great job if you can get it.) You had to join TAC in order to compete in the NYC and Boston Marathons. That's why most people joined, however begrudgingly. Then one of their geniuses declared all marathons not finishing within 50m of its start were "unofficial." Both Boston and NYC were thus "unofficial." Shortly after that, TAC was dissolved and what usefulness it did have was absorbed into US Track & Field. I think Avery Brundage set the stage for this when he was head of the International Olympic Committee. David Mariniss, author of "Rome 1960" tells of his capriousness and antagonism when settling scores. He was also greedy and quite a womanizer. Word was if you wanted the Olympic Games in your city, you had to supply Brundage with the 3 B's: Booze, bucks, and broads. He is probably the epitome of what you're justifiably railing against. However, I must disagree with your solution. For example, take Sebastian Coe. He was a Member of the British Parliament and is now chairman of the London Olympic Organizing Committee. Prior to his political career, he was a Olympic champion and world record middle distance runner. As far as I know, he has acted honorably and effectively. Why should his time as an MP disqualify him from service on sport bodies & federations? Some politicians are worthy of sitting on these boards. It depends on the individual. I think they need to earn their seat AND continuously re-earn their seat. If I learned a national or international sports federation dumped their entire board, I wouldn't lose any sleep.