Aruba, Nigeria IOC Members Seek Executive Board Debuts

(ATR) Nicole Hoevertsz of Aruba tells Around the Rings she’s in the race for one of the open seats on the IOC Executive Board.

Hoevertsz says she has sent a letter to the 94 other members asking for their support at the IOC Session in Lima in September. The vote is due for the final day of the meeting, Sept. 16.

One of the seats on the executive board is open from last year when Ugur Erdener of Turkey was elected a vice president.

The other seat is currently held by Anita DeFrantz of the U.S. She is eligible to run for another term or seek the single vice presidential seat that’s open this year.

Along with Hoevertsz, there are at least two other members who have signaled their intentions to seek one of the regular EB seats: Habu Gumel of Nigeria and Denis Oswald of Switzerland.

There is no word yet on who will be in the running for the vice presidency that opens up as John Coates of Australia steps down. He reaches the two-term limit for executive board members and can’t be back for an EB election without a gap of two years. But by then Coates will be nearing age 70 retirement, the rule in place when he was elected in 2001.

Age might be an issue for Gumel, the gregarious president of the Nigerian Olympic Committee. An IOC member since 2009, he’s tried a couple of times for the EB. Now he’s 68 and would have to step down in two years unless the IOC granted him one of the exemptions it can issue so that he can complete a full four-year term. In Gumel’s favor is the absence of any Africans on the EB. In past years, there’s been as many as three.

Denis Oswald held a 12 year stint on the EB that ended in 2012. He was one of the candidates for IOC president in 2013. A lawyer by profession, Oswald is a former president of the international rowing federation. He turned 70 this year and is eligible to serve until age 80, the rule that was in effect when he was elected in 1991 .

Hoevertsz is 53 and an IOC member since 2006. A 1984 Olympian in synchronized swimming, this will be her first dive into a race for the EB. She says that after four decades of active participation in sport, she is prepared for this next phase of her career.

Anita DeFrantz is believed to be one of the more likely candidates to run for the open vice presidential seat. She was not immediately available to comment. Now age 65, DeFrantz is covered by the age 80 retirement rule, elected to the IOC in 1985.

By the end of her career on the IOC DeFrantz could hold some sort of record for length of service on the EB, depending on her success in future elections. From 1992 to 2001she was a member and then a vice president. With her current term, she has 13 years of executive board experience with another four to add if she remains on the EB after Lima. She would need to step down after that term but would be eligible to run again two years later.

The election for EB seats in Lima is expected to be a far more easy-to-follow scenario than in Rio de Janeiro during the 2016 session. A total of nine seats were up for vote on the final day of the meeting on the eve of the 2016 Olympics. In Lima just three elections will need to be held.

Election strategy should be low-key in keeping with the IOC Code of Ethics which govern activities like IOC elections.

"The promotion of a candidature shall be conducted with dignity and moderation," says the code regarding the campaign for IOC president, equally applicable to the EB.

That largely means communication only among IOC members and very limited remarks for the media and others outside the immediate IOC family. And while it is permissible to declare early for an EB seat, nominations aren’t due until the eve of the vote.

After the vote in Lima for the EB and vice presidential posts, the board will still not be up to full strength of 15 members. That’s because Patrick Hickey self suspended himself from the IOC last August following his arrest in Rio de Janeiro on ticket touting charges. He’ll stay off the IOC until his case is adjudicated, which could be as long as a year from now. Hickey, 72, is from Ireland and sits on the EB as a representative of the Association of National Olympic Committees.

Written by Ed Hula.

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