12 vie for 6 places on WA’s Athletes’ Commission
Ukraine’s London 2012 4×400 metres bronze medallist Anna Ryzhykova and Ugandan 800m world champion Halimah Nakaayi are among 12 nominations for six available places on the World Athletics (WA) Athletes’ Commission.
Elections will take place on July 15-20 during the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, with all accredited athletes eligible to vote.
To be eligible for nomination, athletes must have participated in at least one of the past two editions of the World Athletics Championships, or in the most recent Olympic Games, or be a competitor at this year’s World Championships.
The other prospective Athletes’ Commission members are Bulgaria’s 2012 European 100m champion IvetLalova-Collio, Turkey’s 2017 world 200m champion RamilGuliyev, Switzerland’s European 400m hurdles champion Lea Sprunger, Lithuania’s 2016 European high jump silver medallistAirinėPalšytė and Italy’s world indoor high jump bronze medallist Alessia Trost.
The rest are Latvian long jumper LaumaGriva, European 400m bronze medallistLisanne de Witte of The Netherlands, Japan’s Tokyo 2020 20 kilometres race walk bronze medallist Toshikazu Yamanishi, Canada’s 2015 Pan American 3,000m steeplechase champion Matthew Hughes and Ecuadorian marathon runner Andrea Bonilla.
The six outgoing members are Canada’s race walker Iñaki Gómez, the 2003 world 100m champion Kim Collins of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Poland’s three-time European 800m champion Adam Kszczot, Germany’s Rio 2016 javelin champion Thomas Röhler, Ivana Vuleta (née Španović) of Serbia, the Rio 2016 long jump bronze medallist, and Benita Willis of Australia, the 2004 world cross country champion.
Athletes’ role in decision-making within World Athletics was recognised and embedded with the governance and integrity reforms approved in December 2016.
Since 2019, the chair and one other member of the Athletes’ Commission – one man and one woman – have been full voting members of the World Athletics Council.
The athletes currently holding these positions on the Council are France’s former world pole vault record-holder Renaud Lavillenie, as chair, and New Zealand’s double Olympic shot put champion Dame Valerie Adams, as deputy chair.
“It has been an exciting, but also a challenging few years since our last Athletes’ Commission elections in Doha in 2019,” said Lavillenie.
“For the first time in history, two Athletes’ Commission members have held voting seats on the World Athletics Council, giving more weight to the athlete’s voice at the leadership level of our sport. –insidethegames
