No unpleasant surprises in Mumbai. On Tuesday August 17, on the third and final day of its 141st Session, the IOC elected a new class of members. Proposed by the Members’ Commission, the list comprised eight names. They were all elected, but with different scores. Former Peruvian volleyball player Cecilia Roxana Tait Villacorta swept all the votes, obtaining 76 votes, without a single ballot against. One place below him, South Korea’s Kim Jae-youl, the new president of the International Skating Union (ISU), was also overwhelmingly elected, with 72 votes and just one against. Also performing well were Israel’s Yael Arad (71 for, 5 against), who will become the first woman to chair the National Olympic Committee in 2021, and Sweden’s Petra Sörling (70 for, 4 against), President of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The promotion of new IOC members is completed by Hungary’s Balázs Fürjes (69 for, 7 against), Tunisia’s Mehrez Boussayene (69 for, 6 against), and Germany’s Michael Mronz (64 votes, 9 against). Finally, on Tuesday October 17, Michelle Yeoh became the first Oscar-winning actress to join the IOC. Nominated as an individual member, the Malaysian received 67 votes (9 against). With these eight new members – 4 men and 4 women – the IOC now has 41.1% female members.
