2 IOC athlete representatives to be elected in PyeongChang
By Yi Whan-woo
Armin Zoeggeler
Zhang Hong
Six retired and active winter athletes are running for election at the athletes’ villages in PyeongChang and Gangneung for two International Olympic Committee (IOC) member seats, according to PyeongChang officials, Friday.
The six are Italian luge legend Armin Zoeggeler, cross-country skiers Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen and Kikkan Randall, from Norway and the United States respectively, Spanish skeleton racer Ander Mirambell, Finnish ice hockey player Emma Terho and Chinese speed skater Zhang Hong.
They are competing to replace two outgoing members of the 15-seat IOC Athletes’ Commission -- Angela Ruggiero and Adam Pengilly, whose single eight-year term will end in February.
“Introductory booklets and other information on the six candidates as well as their pledges are everywhere in the athletes’ villages,” an official said.
All 2,925 athletes from 92 countries at the PyeongChang Winter Games will be eligible to vote for the candidates of their choice during the quadrennial sporting event that runs until Feb. 25.
The two successful candidates will become the athletes’ representatives after IOC approval.
They will be responsible for speaking on behalf of the international athletes. They will also exercise rights in choosing Olympic host cities and other IOC business.
The IOC has up to 115 members on its Election Commission, including 70 individual members, 15 International Sports Federations’ representatives and 15 National Olympic Committees’ representatives.
Among the six candidates, Zoeggeler, 44, has the most decorated career.
He competed in six consecutive Winter Games (1994-2014) before his retirement, with two gold medals (2002, 2006), a silver medal (1998), and three bronze medals (1994, 2010 and 2014) in men’s singles.
He won 16 medals at the World Luge Championships -- six golds (1995, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2011), five silvers (1995, 2000, 2007, 2009) and five bronzes (1996, 1997, 2004, 2005, 2012).
Zhang won the women’s 1,000-meter speed skating at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
She will compete in the 500 meters and 1,000 meters at PyeongChang.
Terho is a two-time Olympic medalist (1998, 2010).
The remaining three candidates have not won Olympic medals.
Meanwhile, Ryu Seung-min, a 2004 Olympic champion in men’s table tennis, is South Korea’s sole IOC member.
He was elected to be an IOC Athletes’ Commission member at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He serves as the head of athletes’ village in PyeongChang.
“I had a tough time in running for election two years ago because the weather was really hot. I bet the six candidates will shiver because of cold weather,” he said.