Three for one place. There are three members of the IOC jockeying for an invitation, starting next month, to the much-desired table of the executive board of the Olympic organization. Two men and a woman compete for the seat of representative of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF).
The Spaniard Marisol Casado, president of the International Triathlon Federation (ITU), the Serbian Nenad Lalovic, her wrestling counterpart (United World Wrestling), and the Frenchman Jean-Christophe Rolland, at the head of world rowing ( FISA), have submitted their candidacy to succeed the Taiwanese CK Wu. The former boss of world boxing handed in his cap last November, after being forced to resign from the presidency of the AIBA.
The designation procedure is intended to be relatively simplified. ASOIF members have until Friday January 19, 2018 to cast their vote. To win the bet, the winner must obtain an absolute majority of votes. Not won in advance. It will then be presented by ASOIF to all IOC members during the organization's next session, at the beginning of February in PyeongChang, before the opening of the Winter Games. The IOC General Assembly will then be invited to vote to ratify its entry into the Executive Board. A final step which appears to be a formality.
The new elected official will join the holy of holies of the Olympic movement, a commission already strongly renewed during the last session, in September 2017 in Lima, with the entries of Robin Mitchell (Fiji), Nicole Hoevertsz (Aruba), and Denis Oswald (Switzerland). ).
Who will win? Difficult. Marisol Casado can benefit from the seniority advantage. President of the ITU since 2008, she has served on the IOC since 2010. She is today the only woman to president of an international federation of an Olympic sport.
Nenad Lalovic joined the Olympic organization during the Kuala Lumpur session in July 2015. He benefits from real credit within the sports movement, for having breathed new life into wrestling, temporarily excluded from the Olympic program in 2013.
As for Jean-Christophe Rolland, he was part of the last promotion of IOC members, elected last September in Lima (photo above). A newcomer, then. But the Frenchman is one of the men who are rising in the Olympic universe. His election would allow France, host country of the Summer Games in 2024, to be represented on the IOC Executive Board.
