Turkish Olympic Committee head elected to top IOC board

SOCHI - Reuters

Uğur Erdener (L), the head of the Turkish Olympic Committee, has become the first Turk to be elected to the Executive Board of the IOC. AA photo

China’s Zaiqing Yu was re-elected vice president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Feb. 7, with Turkey’s Uğur Erdener, head of the Turkish Olympic Committee, voted onto the powerful Executive Board.

Erdener, who is also the president of World Archery, beat senior IOC member Richard Pound of Canada by nine votes to win a spot on the executive board, which essentially shapes most of the IOC’s policies. The Chinese sports administrator, an IOC Vice President from 2008-20012, was the only candidate for the vacant spot.

“I congratulate Professor Erdener and I am adding to my impressive collection of silver medals in recent IOC elections,” said Canadian Pound, a former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) who unsuccessfully ran for IOC president in 2001.

Denmark’s Poul-Erik Hoyer, head of the International Badminton Federation since 2013, joined the organization as its latest ex-officio member.

Erdener, a former rector of Ankara’s Hacettepe University, said he was proud of being elected to the post.
“I’m proud both in my name and in the name of my country,” Erdener told Anadolu Agency. “This is the first time a Turkish sports personality is elected to the IOC Executive Board. This is another source of pride for me.”