Contest for IOC Executive Board vacancies begins ahead of vice-presidents standing down
By Nick Butler Tuesday, 3 May 2016
Both Nawal El Moutawakel (seventh left) and Sir Craig Reedie (eighth right) will both leave the IOC Executive Board this year ©IOC
A lobbying process has begun for two new spots on the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) ruling Executive Board due to vice-presidents Sir Craig Reedie and Nawal El Moutawakel each standing-down later this year.
El Moutawakel, the Moroccan who claimed 400 metres hurdles Olympic gold at Los Angeles 1984, was the only woman on the Board when elected to her position in 2008, before graduating to vice-president in 2012.
She has thus completed the maximum of two four-year terms in office and must stand down for at least two years.
Sir Craig, the British President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), joined the Executive Board in 2009 to replace the resigning Italian Mario Pescante before becoming vice-president in 2012.
He therefore has to stand down as vice-president this year as he is not eligible for a fresh four-year term, but could, in theory, serve one more year as an ordinary Board member.
The Scot will not do that, he confirmed to insidethegames today, partly as it is not considered appropriate for a retiring vice-president, and partly in order to focus on his work with WADA.
Both will remain for the next two Executive Board meetings, in Lausanne in June and in Rio de Janeiro in August, before standing down at the IOC Session in Rio shortly before the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games.
The two vacancies will likely be taken by existing Executive Board members rather than either of the two new additions who are expected to be voted in during the August Session.
Of the other vice-presidents, John Coates, the Australian Court of Arbitration for Sport head who joined the Executive Board alongside Sir Craig in 2009, became a vice-president in 2013 and thus has one more year to run.
China's Yu Zaiqing was elected as the fourth vice-president in 2014.
Sir Craig Reedie (fourth left) and Nawal El Moutawakel (third right) will each stand down from their positions on the IOC Executive Board this year ©Getty Images
Sir Craig Reedie (fourth left) and Nawal El Moutawakel (third right) will each stand down from their positions on the IOC Executive Board this year ©Getty Images
Germany's IOC Athletes' Commission chair Claudia Bokel will also stand down from the Board after reaching the end of her term in August, while winter sporting representative René Fasel, the Swiss President of the International Ice Hockey Federation, has reached his term limit.
International Ski Federation President Gian-Franco Kasper will replace him subject to IOC Session approval.
Five others: Spain's Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., Ukraine's Sergey Bubka, Guatemala's Willi Kaltschmitt Luján, Taiwan's Ching-Kuo Wu and Ireland's Patrick Hickey, have all served four years so are up for re-election.
Wu, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) President, has been proposed to continue representing the Summer Olympic sports, while Hickey is expected to likewise continue representing the Association of National Olympic Committees.
Of the remainder, Sweden's Gunila Lindberg was re-elected for a fresh four-year term last year, while United States' Anita Defrantz and Turkey's Uğur Erdener came on in 2013 and 2014 respectively.
It appears likely that two out of these latter eight figures will become the new vice-presidents.
Germany's Thomas Bach is serving his first eight-year Presidential term until 2021.
insidethegames understands that several potential Executive Board candidates have circulated statements of interest around the IOC membership, mainly consisting of figures who have already served on the 15-person panel in the past.
With Bokel and El Moutawakel departing, there could be just two women left on the Board, although United States' Angela Ruggiero is the favoured candidate to become the new Athletes' Commission chair.
This comes as a simultaneous process to select new IOC members continues.
The current membership stands at 91 - 24 lower than the upper limit of 115.
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