IOC Athletes' Commission
The IOC Athletes' Commission is a body maintained by the International Olympic Committee for the purpose of representing athletes. It was established in 1981 by the then-President of the IOC, Juan Antonio Samaranch, and its creation was subsequently codified by the IOC in Rule 21 of the Olympic Charter.[1]
Functions
The Commission is a consultative body whose function is to act as "the link between active athletes and the IOC".[1] It makes recommendations to the IOC's executive bodies, and its chair serves as a member of the IOC Executive Board.
The Commission meets once or twice a year, and organises an Athletes' Forum once every two years. It works in liaison with similar athletes' commissions of the Continental Associations, individual National Olympic Committees and the International Sports Federations.[1]
Membership
12 members are elected to the Commission by Olympic athletes for a term of eight years. In addition, the President of the IOC may appoint up to seven further members, "to ensure a balance between regions, gender and sports", and there are two ex-officio members: one from the World Olympians Association, and one from the International Paralympic Committee.[1]
The elected members are usually also elected to the IOC itself shortly after becoming members of the Commission, and serve on the IOC for the duration of their membership of the Commission.[2]
Elections
An election for Commission members is held at each edition of the Olympic Games, with members being chosen by a secret ballot of the athletes competing at those Games. Candidates must themselves have competed either in those Games or in the previous ones of the same series.[3]
Four or five members are elected at each Summer Games and two or three at each Winter Games. They replace the group that were elected at the Games of the same series eight years earlier.[3] In the initial elections in 2000 and 2002, a second set of members was elected for four years; this filled all of the 12 places on the Commission and allowed the staggering process to begin.
The table below lists the members returned at each election. The division of members into four 'classes' is not the practice of either the IOC or the Commission, but is included here to help show the process more clearly.
References
- IOC. "Athletes' Commission". Retrieved 10 September 2013.
- "Sergei Bubka elected to IOC executive board". Utusan. 30 September 2000. Archived from the original on 5 March 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
- "Results of the IOC Athletes' Commission Election". IOC. 11 August 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
- "Bubka tops poll for IOC athletes' panel". OneIndia News. 29 September 2000. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
- "Results of the Elections to the IOC Athletes' Commission". IOC. 21 February 2002. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
- "Fredericks, Zelezny, Hicham El Guerrouj and Elwani elected". IOC. 26 August 2004. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
- "Results of the election to the IOC Athletes' Commission". IOC. 23 February 2006. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
- "IOC Athletes' Commission election results released". Beijing 2008. 21 August 2008. Archived from the original on 1 January 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
- "Results of the IOC Athletes' Commission Election". IOC. 24 February 2010. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
- "Sochi Olympians elect Bjørndalen and Wickenheiser to IOC Athletes' Commission - Record turnout by athletes". IOC. 20 February 2014. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
- "Rio Olympians elect four members to IOC Athletes' Commission". International Olympic Committee. 18 August 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
Heidemann was elected with 1,603 votes, followed by Ryu with 1,544, Gyurta with 1,469 votes and Isinbayeva with 1,365. A total of 5,185 athletes voted.
- Reuters (19 August 2016). "Yelena Isinbayeva voted on to IOC athletes' commission despite ban". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
- "30 Candidates approved by the IOC EB for the IOC AC election in Tokyo" (PDF). Retrieved 5 December 2019.
- "Fourcade chosen as French candidate for election to IOC Athletes' Commission in 2022". Retrieved 6 September 2019.