IOC announces Oshonaike 31 other candidates for Athletes’ Commission elections

Nigeria’s seven-time Olympian, Funke Oshonaike, has been listed by the International Olympic Committee to be among the 32 candidates preparing for Athletes’ Commission elections to be held during the Paris Games from July 26 – August 11, when about 10,500 athletes are eligible to vote.

The IOC Athletes’ Commission serves as a link between athletes and the IOC. During their eight-year term, members of the commission work to provide athletes with a platform to share their voices and experiences.

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The IOC AC is composed of a maximum of 23 members – 12 members directly elected by their peers and a maximum of 11 appointed – who serve a term of eight years. The vote is held at every Olympic Games, with four members elected at each Summer Games, and two at each Winter Games.

All athletes competing in Paris will be eligible to vote in the Olympic Villages during the Games, the IOC said Thursday. Four athletes from four different sports will be elected to the commission, the IOC said. The vote will be supervised and certified by an election committee appointed by IOC president Thomas Bach.

Korean table tennis player Ryu Seung-min, Hungarian swimmer Daniel Gyurta, German fencer Britta Heidemann and Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbaeva are the four athletes who are vacating their seats, which they’ve held since being elected at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Seven-time Olympic champion sprinter Allyson Felix and seven-time golf major winner Inbee Park are candidates in elections at the Paris Games to represent their fellow athletes at the IOC. Among the new candidates are Ukrainian judoka Georgii Zantaraia.

Swimmers from the Israeli and Palestinian teams at the Tokyo Olympics – respectively Yakov Toumarkin and Yazan al Bawwab- are among the candidates, plus seven-time Olympian Oshonaike, a table tennis player from Nigeria.

Other Olympic champions among the candidates are three-time gold medalist Áron Szilágyi, a fencer from Hungary, and two-time champions Mariana Pajón (BMX, Colombia), Valent Sinkovic (rowing, Croatia), and Kahena Kunze (sailing, Brazil).