The International Olympic Committee, during the IOC session, today elected eight New Members as well as a new Vice President and three new members in the Executive Board. The patron of Olympic Movement also took forward its cooperation with UNHCR as it launched the Olympic Refuge Foundation to pursue the work undertaken throughout the Olympic Movement over recent years to support refugees around the world.
Ms Anita L. DeFrantz (USA), who joined the IOC in 1985, was elected as an IOC Vice-President. She already occupied this position from 1997 to 2001. Dr Robin E. Mitchell, IOC member in Fiji, Mrs Nicole Hoevertsz, IOC member in Aruba, and Mr Denis Oswald, IOC member in Switzerland, were chosen by the Session to join the IOC Executive Board. They will serve a four-year term.
Earlier in the day, the IOC Session elected eight new Members, who were proposed by the Executive Board in August. Four members, three of them women, were elected in the category of Individual Members: Baklai Temengil (PLW); Kristin Kloster Aasen (NOR); Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul (THA); and Luis Mejia Oviedo (DOM).
President of the Pan-American Sports Organisation (PASO) Neven Ivan Ilic Alvarez (CHI) and President of the Oman Olympic Committee Khalid Muhammad Al Zubair were elected as representatives of a National Olympic Committee (NOC) or continental association of NOCs.
President of World Rowing Jean-Christophe Rolland (FRA) and President of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) Ingmar de Vos (BEL) were elected as Members representing an International Federation.
Sixteen Members were subject to re-election after eight years of membership, and were re-elected en bloc: Franco Carraro (ITA); John Coates (AUS); Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark (DEN); Iván Dibós (PER); Habu Gumel (NIG); Ser Miang Ng (SGP); Lydia Nsekera (BDI) Richard Peterkin (LCA); Richard W. Pound (CAN); Princess Nora of Liechtenstein (LIE); Craig Reedie (GBR); Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP); Pál Schmitt (HUN); Austin L. Sealy (BAR); Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah (KUW); and Shamil Tarpischev (RUS).
In addition to being re-elected, Mr Coates got his status changed from member representing an NOC to Individual Member. In light of the upcoming Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and Mr Tsunekazu Takeda’s important role in their preparations, the IOC Session agreed to extend the age limit for Mr Takeda, the President of the NOC of Japan, until the end of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
Long-standing IOC Members Gerhard Heiberg (NOR) and Kun-Hee Lee (KOR) were elected as IOC Honorary Members after both resigned from their positions as Members. As the former Chair of the IOC Ethics Commission, Youssoupha Ndiaye (SEN) was granted the status of IOC Honour Member.
Olympic Refuge Foundation
The creation of the Foundation is a further major initiative that has emerged from the strong and longstanding partnership between the IOC and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). In a pledge to raise awareness of the magnitude of the refugee crisis – the UNHCR estimates that more than 65 million people have been forced from their homes by war, famine and other man-made and natural disasters – the IOC created the first Refugee Olympic Team at the Olympic Games Rio 2016. The team acted as a symbol of hope and peace for refugees across the globe. They inspired the world with the strength of their human spirit.
The aim of the Olympic Refuge Foundation is to create safe, basic and accessible sports facilities in areas where there are refugees, a displaced migrant population and internally displaced people. Working in close collaboration with the UNHCR and with the relevant partners and local authorities on the ground, the Foundation will develop sporting activities and social development projects that can be implemented in a sustainable way within these safe environments.
The Olympic Refuge Foundation will enter into strategic partnerships with other foundations, international organisations and non-governmental organisations, in order to share experiences and build a collective approach to foster impactful activities that will assist refugees in their social development and integration through sport.
“The IOC has a long-time commitment to refugees around the world. Today we are taking another major step forward by creating the Olympic Refuge Foundation. It was paramount for the IOC to continue to find solutions to help refugees around the globe,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “Working closely with the UNHCR, the Olympic Refuge Foundation will create safe places where young people can not only play sport but also develop skills to help them reconstruct their lives. I would like to thank our founding donating partners, the Qatar Olympic Committee and the Government of Lichtenstein, for supporting the IOC and UNHCR in this project.”
Addressing the Session this afternoon, the UNHCR High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said: “This Foundation will mean a lot. It will mean a lot for millions of children and young people. It will mean a lot for young people that are amongst the most deprived in the world. People that have lost everything – their homes, often their families, their jobs, even their identity.
“Sport inspires healthy competition in places where competition is often only about weapons, about arms, about money, about drugs, and where violence prevails. We have seen this, we have learned this, we at UNHCR for more than 20 years cooperating with the IOC, and the Foundation we are launching today crowns this very important partnership,” Grandi concluded.
The IOC and UNHCR first began their cooperation in 1994. The collaboration has since seen the implementation of sports projects in more than 45 countries, which has allowed for the provision of basic sports equipment, the rehabilitation of sports grounds and the organisation of regular recreational activities.
Even prior to its launch, the Olympic Refuge Foundation had received pledges of financial support from the Qatar Olympic Committee and the Government of Lichtenstein. The Foundation will fund projects across the world through the generous donations from Olympic Movement partners, governmental institutions and private donations.