August 11, 2004
The Canadian Press

Lindberg becomes second woman elected as IOC vice president (OLY-IOC-Elections)

ATHENS (AP) _ Sweden's Gunilla Lindberg became the second woman in history elected vice-president of the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday.

Lindberg, who has been on the 15-member executive board since 2000, was elected unopposed to one of the four vice presidential spots.

The IOC's first female vice-president was American member Anita DeFrantz, who served a four-year term ending in 2001.

In her acceptance speech, an emotional Lindberg cited DeFrantz as ``a role model who encouraged women members to stand for election.''

Lindberg, 57, has been an IOC member since 1996 and secretary general of the Swedish Olympic Committee since 1989. In Athens, she is attending her 19th Olympics as a Swedish team official.

Lindberg fills a vacancy created by the departure from the board of first vice-president Thomas Bach of Germany, whose four-year mandate expires in Athens.

In a secret ballot, Lindberg received 95 votes in favour and eight against, with six abstentions.

Vitaly Smirnov of Russia and Jim Easton of the United States stay on as vice-presidents, while South Korea's Kim Un-yong remains suspended following his conviction on corruption charges in South Korea in June. He is appealing.

Italy's Franco Carraro, who had been on the board since 2000, was eligible to run for the vice-president's post but decided not to challenge Lindberg. He now steps off the board.

Former Olympic pole vault champion Sergei Bubka of Ukraine, Switzerland's Denis Oswald, Mario Vasquez Rana of Mexico and Ottavio Cinquanta of Italy were re-elected unopposed to regular board spots.

Bubka, the athletes' representative on the board, garnered the most support, with 102 votes in favor and six against. Vasquez Rana, head of the association of national Olympic committees, elicted the least support _ 75 in favour and 34 opposed.

Five members were contesting two other openings on the board. The candidates were Richard Carrion of Puerto Rico, Carlos Arthur Nuzman of Brazil, Phil Coles of Australia, Yu Zaiqing of China and Seyed Mostapha Hashemi Taba of Iran.

The IOC currently has 124 members. The executive board, chaired by IOC president Jacques Rogge, sets committee policy and serves as an inner cabinet.

reprinted with permission