A meeting of the Athletes’ Commission of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), chaired by two-time Olympic champion Sofya Velikaya, was held. Following the meeting, Svetlana Romashina and Jonathan Gureiro were recommended for consideration as candidates to the Athletes’ Commissions of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the European Olympic Committees (EOC), respectively.
“Congratulations to everyone on the conclusion of the Olympic Games in Tokyo. I am pleased that the winners, medalists, and participants have completed this journey. I believe our team delivered an excellent result in Japan,” Sofya Velikaya said in her opening remarks.
Members of the ROC Athletes’ Commission identified candidates to be recommended to the ROC for nomination to the Athletes’ Commissions of the EOC and WADA. Each National Olympic Committee may nominate one candidate to each of these commissions.
On October 2, elections to the EOC Athletes’ Commission will take place during the 6th European Athletes’ Assembly in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Six representatives from summer sports and two from winter sports will be elected. As for the WADA Athletes’ Commission, no vote is предусмотрено: the leadership of WADA will independently review the candidates proposed by NOCs for five vacant positions and make its selection.
“Understanding cultural characteristics and mentality is incredibly important for communication at the international level. Our entire Athletes’ Commission is one team. Now we are selecting a person who will speak on our behalf and represent the interests of the Russian Olympic Committee in these structures,” Jonathan Gureiro emphasized.
By majority vote, members of the ROC Athletes’ Commission supported Gureiro as the recommended candidate for nomination to the EOC Athletes’ Commission. In a similar vote regarding WADA, seven-time Olympic champion Svetlana Romashina received the greatest support as a potential candidate.
“I would like to competently represent and defend the interests of our athletes. I hope I will now have more time to participate in these processes. I plan to continue studying English and to undertake courses in diplomacy. Each of us can say that sport is our life, and we want to continue moving forward within it,” Romashina said.
IOC Athletes’ Commission member and two-time Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva stressed that high-quality education in relevant fields is a key factor for successful international work.
“We are not talking about sports management or event organization, but specifically about programs in diplomacy and international relations, including communication skills, business correspondence, and deeper study of foreign languages. This is something we greatly lack,” Isinbayeva noted.
Secretary of the ROC Athletes’ Commission Ekaterina Gorokhova also reminded participants that, in accordance with the Regulations on the ROC Athletes’ Commission, within six months after the conclusion of the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo, an extended meeting must be organized to elect seven athlete representatives from summer Olympic sports.
Each national sports federation for summer sports has the right to nominate one candidate and to send two athletes (one male and one female) to participate in the vote.
Ilya Zubko, ROC Information Service
