Cuban Olympians Seek IOC Membership

(ATR) A nomination for a new IOC member in Cuba could come within the next 24 hours.

The IOC member elections commission led by Princess Anne is expected to deliver recommendations to the IOC Executive Board, which ends a three-day meeting in Lausanne Friday. As many as five or six nominations could be coming with the IOC membership currently two dozen seats below a maximum 115. The nominations will then be put up for approval at the IOC Session in Rio de Janeiro prior to the start of the 2016 Olympics.

One of three Olympic gold medalists from Cuba could be chosen for the seat that is open in Cuba since Reynaldo Gonzalez Lopez died last July at the age of 66. The hopefuls includerunner Alberto Juantorena, volleyball player Yumilka Ruiz and wrestler Mijain Lopez.

Juantorena – the only athlete to win gold in both the 400 and 800 meter races confirmed to Around the Rings his interest in the position and that he recently submitted his application to the IOC. It's the second time Juantorena has attempted to join the organization.

At the 103rd IOC Session in Paris in 1994, then president of the International Association of Athletics Federations Primo Nebiolo recommended that Juantorena join the IOC. However, Cuban Olympic Committee president Gonzalez Guerra did not endorse the 1976 Montreal medalist. One year later Reynaldo Gonzalez Lopez joined the IOC.

Now a vice president of the IAAF at age 65, Juantorena says he is aware of the age limit of 70 for IOC members but that he deserves to represent his country for his accomplishments in the Olympic Movement.

"I've been there, at the door, but it was not possible. My candidacy has been valid since 2006 and it is my right, for my whole history within the Cuban Olympic movement ... let's see what happens," he tells ATR.

Although he has not indicated interest in the position, Fidel Castro’s son Antonio Castro Soto del Valle is considered another likely candidate. Castro recently made a name for himself in international sports by helping negotiate the exhibition game between the Cuban national baseball team and the U.S. Major League Baseball team Tampa Bay Rays. The game in March was attended by both U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuba President Raul Castro.

Following the death of Gonzalez, Ruiz is currently the only Cuban member of the IOC, serving as a member of the Athletes Commission. Her eight year term is over this year.The four-time Olympian tells ATR she would love to continue as a member. She says she expects to receive the support of the members she has worked with for the last eight years.

Independent of the nomination to serve as a regular member, Greco-Roman wrestler Lopez will be on the ballot to succeed Ruiz for an Athletes Commission seat. Nearly two dozen athletes from around the world are seeking the four seats that come with an eight year term on the IOC. All the athletes who compete in Rio are eligible to vote.

Written by Kevin Nutleywith reporting in Havana by Miguel Hernandez.

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