Vancouver Olympians Elect New Members of IOC

(ATR) Great Britain gets a fourth IOC member and the United States adds a third at the conclusion of nearly three weeks of voting for the IOC Athletes Commission at the Vancouver Olympics.

British skeleton racer Adam Pengilly, a two-time Olympian, and U.S. ice hockey player Angela Ruggiero, a four-time Olympian, were elected by their peers in Vancouver to eight-year terms on the IOC. They will have full voting rights and will be introduced at the Closing Ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games on Feb. 28.

Pengilly’s election, plus IOC member Craig Reedie’s recent elevation to the IOC Executive Board, will help Great Britain in the ramp-up to the 2012 London Games. Ruggiero will be counted on as the U.S. continues its efforts to repair international relationships and prove it is engaged.

Pengilly received 615 votes and Ruggiero received 605. There were 2,609 eligible voters, with 1,965 votes cast and 1,902 accepted. Votes had to be cast for two different athletes from two different sports.

Candidates must have participated either in Turin or Vancouver and must not have been found guilty of a doping offense.

The other contenders for the two openings were Antoine Deneriaz, the retired French skier who won the downhill at Turin; Slovakian hockey player Miroslav Satan, a Boston Bruins winger; Jacqui Cooper of Australia, a three-time Olympian and former world champion in aerial freestyle skiing; Elene Gedevanishvili, a 20-year-old figure skater from Georgia who was trying to become the youngest IOC member, Mongolian cross country skier Khurelbaatar Khash-Erdene; Slovenia’s Petra Majdic, a cross country skiing World Cup sprints champion, and Italian speed skater Ippolito Sanfratello, who won team pursuit gold in Turin.

Pengilly, 32, won a silver medal at the 2009 World Championships and was 18th in Vancouver.

Besides Pengilly and Reedie, the Princess Royal and Philip Craven are British members of the IOC.

Pengilly said he has three key mandates. He wants each competing Olympians’ family to have tickets because it can be quite difficult to acquire them. “If the international federation holds the tickets, each athlete that qualifies gets assigned them,” he said. “That would make it easier for families.”

He also wants to reintroduce the host program where local host families host the athletes and improve and maintain the quality aspect of the Winter Games.

He said he would also work to help less advantaged nations get help with coaching programs.

Ruggiero, 30, who already has won gold, silver and bronze Olympic medals, will play for another gold against Canada in the women’sfinal.

She was unable to attend the press conference because of her hockey obligations, but said in a statement, “I will do all I can to be a good ambassador of the Olympic Movement and represent athlete issues to the IOC - not just from North America - but from around the world."

The U.S. put forward retired U.S. soccer player Julie Foudy in 2008, but she was not elected and the U.S. suffered a public relations embarrassment. The U.S. was reprimanded for what looked like an attempt to bribe team members by giving them a $50 voucher for purchases at the USA House store after they voted.

With more than 200 athletes on the U.S. team, Ruggiero had the numbers behind her if her teammates could be convinced to vote.

She gained business experience competing on Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice” and told the Colorado Springs Gazette that she would campaign as “thevoice of the athletes to the Olympic movement.”

“It doesn’t really matter how popular you are,” she said. “It matters what you’re going to do when you get there.”

Ruggiero, who has also been active in Right to Play, will serve on the U.S. Olympic Committee board of directors under its current format.

Since volleyball Olympian Bob Ctvrtlik’s term ended in 2008, the U.S. has had only two IOC members: Anita DeFrantz, who oversaw the election of the athletes, and Jim Easton.

Ruggiero and Pengilly will replace Pernilla Wiberg of Sweden and Manuela Di Centa of Italy, whose eight-year terms have ended.

Four more athletes will be elected at the 2012 London Olympics.

Frank Fredericks, chairman of the Athletes’ Commission from Namibia, said having 75.3 percent of athletes voting was “quite a big turnout.”

“We have only nine candidates,” he said. “It is difficult for the other 70-plus countries to come and vote if you don’t know why you have to vote from people not from your country.”

He said Pengilly and Ruggiero will be asked to do a lot of work.

“We want to have a voice within every commission of the IOC,” Fredericks said. “That means we are only 19 members and we have about 23 commissions which means sometimes two or three of us are in more than one commission. I hope you understand it won’t just be one meeting."

Alhough Pengilly and Ruggiero still must be confirmed by the IOC, DeFrantz, who oversaw the election, said, “Don’t worry if you get any ‘no’ votes. You’ll have enough ‘yes’ votes I’m certain.”

Written by Karen Rosen and Ed Hula III.