Athens, Greece, October 16, 2021: The IOC Executive Board on Saturday approved a list of 17 athletes who have proposed their candidatures for the IOC Athletes’ Commission election that will take place at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing in February.
The figure is a record number from Olympic Winter Games athletes and includes two luge athletes from Asia.
Ten female and seven male athletes from 17 National Olympic Committees, six sports and five continents will compete for the two vacant seats on the Commission. They have been nominated by their respective NOCs, together with their NOC Athletes’ Commissions.
The 17 include India’s Shiva Keshavan, who has competed in luge at six Winter Olympics from 1998 to 2018, and Chinese Taipei’s Lien Te-An, who also competed in luge at Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018. Keshavan is 40 years old and Lien will be 27 this month.
“The record number of candidates and global representation are a strong sign that athletes want to play a primary and active role within the Olympic Movement and make their voices heard, which is great,” commented Emma Terho, Chair of the IOC AC.
“All these candidates bring great value to the athlete community, and will add a new set of skills and expertise to the IOC Athletes’ Commission no matter who will be elected.”
Athletes competing at Beijing 2022 will be able to vote for their representatives in the Olympic Villages from January 27 - the day the Villages open - until February 16, 2022. The Winter Olympics will run from February 4-20.
