Casting changes at the IPC Athletes' Commission. The Paralympic body took advantage of the Paris 2024 Games to organize the elections. They allowed the election of six new members, all chosen by their peers during the Paralympic Games. The IPC had registered a record number of 25 candidates, representing 12 different sports on four continents. A total of 1.821 athletes voted between August 26 and September 5, in the PLY House of the Paralympic Village in Saint-Denis or in the athletes' lounge of the decentralized village of Châteauroux for the sport shooting specialists. All candidates had to be active Paralympic athletes, i.e. having participated in the Paris 2024 Games or one of the two previous editions. The election was marked by the entry into the commission of the Portuguese Lenine Cunha (para athletics), the first athlete with an intellectual disability to join the governance of the IPC. In addition, two athlete members were re-elected, Martina Caironi (Italy, Para athletics – pictured above) and Vladyslava Kravchenko (Malta, Para swimming). Yoomin Won (South Korea, wheelchair basketball), Yujiao Tan (China, Para weightlifting) and Denise Schindler (Germany, Para cycling) were also elected for a first term. Luca Anna Ekler (Hungary, Para athletics) received the sixth most votes, but the rules specify that there can be no more than two members per sport. The IPC Athletes’ Commission is made up of nine members, including the six elected at the Paris 2024 Games for a four-year term. They will join the three winter sports representatives elected at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Games, plus an appointed member, Greg Polychronidis of Greece, and the chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, Emma Terho of Finland.
