Risto Nieminen has been voted as the new president of the Finnish Olympic Committee to a four-year term. Nieminen beat rivals Jukka Rauhala and Roger Talermo in a vote by the council of theFinnish Olympic Committee.

Nieminen, 61, is the former CEO of lottery company Veikkaus. His victory was sealed in the first round of the election where he received 61 votes. Rivals Rauhala, president of the Finnish Wrestling Federation received 15 votes and Talermo, president for the last two terms, 13 votes.

- I feel very humble facing such a responsibility. It’s time for me to pay back my personal debt to sports, said Nieminen after his election.

Jukka Rauhala and Susanna Rahkamo, president of the Finnish Figure Skating Association, were elected vice presidents of the Finnish NOC. Other board members in the olympiad 2013-16 are Pia Nybäck, Antti Peltoniemi, Maria Laakso, Hannu Tihinen, Antti Pihlakoski and Tuuli Merikoski. Sari Multala and Olli-Pekka Karjalainen are athlete representatives at the board.

The council of the Finnish NOC also accepted the Finnish Olympic Committees plan of action and the budget draft for the year 2013 in its meeting. The total of the budget draft is 9 672 000 euros.

For more information, please contact

President Risto Nieminen, +358 400 501 917

Secretary General Mika Sulin, +358 40 527 8101, mika.sulin@noc.fi

Communications Manager Mika Noronen, +358 40 504 8714, mika.noronen@noc.fi

Communications Officer Laura Lehtonen, +358 40 743 7107, laura.lehtonen@noc.fi

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