(ATR) IOC president Jacques Rogge joins royalty from around the world for the coronation of IOC member Prince Willem-Alexander as the new king of the Netherlands.
Queen Beatrix abdicates from the throne this morning after a 33-year reign, with the swearing in and investiture of the King taking place in a ceremony in Amsterdam at 2pm CET.
Rogge and his wife Anne along with at least two other IOC members, Prince Frederik of Denmark and Prince Albert II of Monaco, are among hundreds of guests invited to the ceremonies at the Royal Palace and New Church in the center of the city.
Past and current Dutch Olympic leaders will also attend the ceremonies.
Dutch NOC president Andre Bolhuis returned a day early from the European Olympic Committee’s inspection of 2015 European Games plans in Baku to participate in proceedings.
Celebrations will be held across the Netherlands – population 16 million – with towns and cities adorned in orange banners and flags to mark Willem-Alexander’s accession to the throne.
An IOC member since 1998, Willem-Alexander has been groomed to take the throne. Popular in the Netherlands, the 46-year-old is set to retain his IOC status until the year’s end.
Although time for his IOC duties will be limited, the Dutch king is expected to continue work for the marketing commission. Among other IOC jobs, he has been a member of Olympic Solidarity for four years and also served on the co-coms for the Vancouver and Sochi Winter Olympics.
As the only Dutch IOC member following Anton Geesink’s death in 2010, the country’s sports chiefs are keen to ensure the nation’s interests continue to be represented on the IOC.
Around the Rings understands that Bolhuis is meeting with Rogge in May to discuss how the Netherlands should go about replacing Willem-Alexander as one of the 70 individual IOC members – those with no affiliations to NOCs, federations or otherwise.
Bolhuis himself is mentionedas a possible candidate to become a new Dutch IOC member.
One hindrance is his age; he will turn 67 in October. But the IOC’s fixed age limit for members is 70, meaning he would serve less than three years in the role if elected.
Any Dutch candidature for IOC membership must first be analyzed by the Nominations Commission chaired by Francisco Elizalde of the Philippines.
His panel could make a recommendation to the IOC Executive Board meeting in St Petersburg during SportAccord or the EB meeting in August in Moscow on the sidelines of the IAAF world athletics championships.
The EB would submit its list of nominations for IOC membership to the IOC Session convening in Buenos Aires in September, which has the power to elect new members by secret ballot.
Reported by Mark Bisson
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