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RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Two new IOC vice presidents were elected along with seven new members on the executive board on Thursday at the 129th IOC session ahead of the Rio Olympic Games.
Spain's Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. and Turkey's Ugur Erdener will replace outgoing vice-presidents Nawal El Moutawakel of Marocco and Sir Craig Reedie of Britain.
Five new and returning members will also be joining the executive board (EB): Gian Franco Kasper (Switzerland), Angela Ruggiero (United States), Sergey Bubka (Ukraine), Ser Miang Ng (Singapore), and Willi Kaltschmitt (Guatemala). Wu Ching-Kuo and Patrick Hickey are resuming their seats as representatives of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) and the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) respectively. The new chair of the IOC Athletes' Commission, Angela Ruggiero, replaces outgoing chair Claudia Bokel, following the elections earlier this week. The newly composed EB will begin its work after the Olympic Games Rio 2016.
Nawal El Moutawakel's exit as vice-president and Habu Gumel's failure to be elected means there is now no African executive board member.
In a presentation by the chair of the IOC Members Election Commission, HRH the Princess Royal, it was reported that the commission has devised a new procedure for the recruitment of IOC Members based on the Olympic Agenda 2020 recommendations. The new approach aims at targeting new members with the skills and experience needed by the IOC, and includes integrity checks by the IOC Ethics Commission.
Following a proposal from the executive board, eight new IOC Members were elected at the 129th IOC Session ahead of the Olympic Games Rio 2016: Nita Ambani (India); Sari Essayah (Finland); Ivo Ferriani (Italy); Luis Moreno (Colombia); Auvita Rapilla (Papua New Guinea); Anant Singh (South Africa); Tricia Smith (Canada); and Karl Stoss (Austria).
The newly-elected members represent a cross-section of expertise from the worlds of sport, culture, medicine, sociology, business, law and management. Gender equality is guaranteed with four women and four men on the list.
The new IOC Executive Board is as follows: Thomas Bach (President, Germany), Samaranch (vice-president, Spain), Erdener (vice-president, Turkey), John Coates (vice-president, Australia), Yu Zaiqing (vice-president, China), Wu (Chinese Taipei), Kasper (Switzerland), Hickey (Ireland), Ruggiero (USA), Bubka (Ukraine), Kaltschmitt (Guatemala), Anita DeFrantz (USA), Gunilla Lindberg (Sweden) and Ng (Singapore).
The addition of the new members brings the total number of IOC Members to 98. More proposals are due for the IOC Session in Lima in 2017 after elections in certain International Summer Sports Federations and National Olympic Committees (NOCs) following the Olympic Games Rio 2016, in consultation with the respective stakeholders.
