BEIJING — Juan Antonio Samaranch of Spain will serve another term as International Olympic Committee (IOC) Vice President after a slate of competition-free elections at the 139th IOC Session.
Samaranch ran unopposed for the office and will replace Yu Zaiqing of China, who has served the maximum of two four-year terms.
Nenad Lalovic of Serbia, president of United World Wrestling, and Ivo Ferriani of Italy, president of International Bobsleigh also were unopposed in their bids for re-election to the Executive Board.
Lalovic represents the interests of the summer sports federations while Ferriani is the advocate for the winter sports federations.
The vote for Samaranch was 72-4.
He is the son of former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch and was a member of the IOC Executive Board from 2012-2016 before serving one four-year term as Vice President.
Samaranch, 62, has floated the possibility of a presidential bid in 2025.
He is coming off a high-profile role as the chair of the coordination commission for Beijing 2022. He thanked the membership “for this show of trust. You cannot — or maybe you can — imagine how happy I am to continue working with you, now from the Executive Board.”
The vote for Lalovic was unanimous at 76-0, while Ferriani was voted in by a 73-3 margin.
Because the 139th Session was disrupted by the pandemic and technically will end on May 20, the new terms for Samaranch, Lalovic and Ferriani will not begin until the session closes.
However, new IOC members will begin their duties immediately.
Poul-Erik Hoyer of Denmark, the president of the World Badminton Federation and a 1996 gold medalist, announced to the membership that he would not seek re-election at the conclusion of his eight-year term for personal reasons. He disclosed in 2020 he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. “It has been a pleasure, privilege and honor,” he said.
Nicole Hoevertsz of Aruba, whose membership had been linked to her function as Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee of Aruba, won re-election and a change in status to an independent individual membership by a 69-4 vote. Hoevertsz is an IOC Vice President and chair of the coordination commission for LA 2028. Her term is another eight years.
The IOC extended the age limit for Luis Alberto Moreno of Colombia by a 66-8 vote. He will reach the age limit of 70 at the end of 2023, but his term as an individual member has been extended for four years starting January 1, 2024. He is the chair of the IOC Public Affairs and Social Development Through Sport Commission and Permanent Observer of the IOC to the United Nations since 2019.
The new IOC members, who clutched a corner of the IOC flag while reciting the oath, included Yiech Pur Biel, a member of the inaugural refugee team in 2016. The vote was unanimous — 75-0 — for Biel to become an independent individual member.
He was born in South Sudan and fled to a refugee camp in Kenya, where his athletic ability was discovered.
“He is a relentless advocate for bringing the power of sport to refugees around the world,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “It’s a kind of historic event, the first ever IOC member having no nationality, no adherence to a National Olympic Committee.”
Biel told Around the Rings, “I represent millions of refugees around the world, who don’t have access to be members of the IOC.”
Danka Bartekova, a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist in skeet shooting from Slovakia, returns to the IOC as an independent individual member. A four-time Olympian, she became a member of the athletes’ commission in 2012 and was vice-chair. She won election to the IOC by a 75-3 vote.
David Lappartient, president of the Union Cycliste International, was elected to a position tied to his status with the international federation. The vote was 68-4.
Martin Fourcade, the Olympic champion biathlete from of France and Swedish gold-medal-winning skier Frida Hansdotter were elected by their peers to the athletes commission and unanimously voted onto the IOC.
The Session also re-elected two members for the IOC Ethics commission to new four-year terms in their capacity as IOC members: Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant and Auvita Rapilla.
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