FILA Announces Panelists for SportAccord Presentation

Vevey, Switzerland (May 23) – FILA has announced the names of the five panelists that will participate in its presentation to the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Executive Board at next week’s SportAccord conference in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Newly elected FILA President Nenad Lalovic stated that "These five panelists are representative of the passion, dedication and diversity of wrestling’s athletes and fans around the world. We are thankful that they have taken the time to help us communicate the changes our sport has undergone since the IOC Executive Board’s decision to recommend the removal of wrestling from the Olympic Games programme."

The presentation to the IOC will highlight some of the rule and governance changes FILA voted to institute following its Extraordinary Congress earlier this month. At this meeting, which was open to the media for the first time ever, Mr. Lalovic was formally elected as President and a host of new competition rules were adopted. These include cumulative scoring for the entire bout; the structure of the match is for two three-minute periods, stricter rules to penalize passivity, and changes to make takedowns more valuable. FILA also changed its constitution dramatically to guarantee that at least one woman be a Vice President. Multiple seats on the Board will also be reserved for women and active athletes. More details about these and other changes can be found on FILA’s website, http://www.fila-official.com.

Following FILA’s presentation, the IOC Executive Board will vote on which of eight sports, including wrestling, it will include on a short-list that the entire IOC Session will vote on in September. Only one of the eight sports vying for a spot will be a part of the 2020 Olympic Games. In addition to wrestling, the other sports are: baseball & softball, karate, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, wakeboarding, and wushu.

The panelists for the presentation are President Nenad Lalovic, Carol Huynh, Lise Legrand, Daniel Igali, and Jim Scherr.

President Nenad Lalovic of Serbia is the current President of FILA. He was confirmed to his position at FILA’s Extraordinary Congress earlier this month after having served as Acting President since the IOC’s decision to remove wrestling from the Olympic Games in February. He has been with FILA’s Bureau since 2006.

Carol Huynh is a Canadian wrestler who won a bronze medal in Women’s Freestyle (48 kg.) at the 2012 London Games, and a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Her 2008 gold was Canada’s second medal ever in women’s wrestling, and its first ever gold in the sport. Huynh was born in British Columbia to ethnic Chinese refugees from northern Vietnam. Both of her sisters wrestled and she started the sport when she was 15.

Lise Legrand is a Vice President of the French Wrestling Federation, an Athens 2004 Bronze Medalist and 1996 World Championships Bronze medalist

Daniel Igali is a Nigerian-Canadian wrestler who won a gold medal in Men’s Freestyle (69 kg.) at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. He grew up in Nigeria with 20 siblings and gained refugee status in Canada in 1994. His gold was Canada’s first ever in wrestling. He is currently a member of Nigeria’s provincial parliament.

Jim Scherr represented the United States at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul and was the first Olympian to ever lead the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), where he served from 2005 to 2009. He had previously been the Executive Director of USA Wrestling from 1990 to 2000. He is currently Commissioner of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.

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