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 members are elected at each Summer Games and two 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.
| Games | Members elected | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class I | Class II | Class III | Class IV | |
Sydney 2000 | ||||
Salt Lake 2002 | ||||
Athens 2004 |
Frank Fredericks | |||
Torino 2006 | ||||
Beijing 2008 |
Moon Dae-Sung | |||
Vancouver 2010 | ||||
London 2012 |
Danka Barteková | |||
Sochi 2014 | ||||
Rio de Janeiro 2016 |
| |||
Pyeongchang 2018 |
| |||
Tokyo 2020 |
| |||
References
- 1 2 3 4 IOC. "Athletes' Commission". Retrieved 10 September 2013.
- ↑ "Sergei Bubka elected to IOC executive board". Utusan. 30 September 2000. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
- 1 2 3 "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. 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.