(ATR) IOC President Jacques Rogge tells Around the Rings that a new IOC member for Japan is likely to be elected at the IOC Session next July in London.
Both of Japan’s current IOC members retire from their seats at the end of the year. The departures of Chiharu Igaya and Sunichiro Okano, both turning 80 this year, will leave Japan without an IOC member for the first time since 1909. That’s the year Japanese Olympic Committee founder Jugaro Kano became the first of a dozen IOC members from Japan since then.
With Japan bidding for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, a Japanese member is likely a necessity for the bid to win support from the IOC.
"We will look for a new member from Japan because Japan is such an important country for Olympism," the IOC President told Around the Rings in Tokyo last week.
Rogge says he is sure that a nominee from Japan will be recommended by the Executive Board for election at the London IOC Session.
"If my colleagues on the Executive Board follow me, there will be an IOC member appointed in London," Rogge said.
The IOC Nominations Commission will present a list ofnames next April or May for the EB to recommend to the Session in July. The commission maintains a file of applications for potential members that numbers more than 100 from around the world.
JOC President Tsunekazu Takeda is one of those applicants, but it is not known if there are others from Japan to be considered. Takeda is the son of Tsuneyoshi Takeda, who was on the IOC from 1967 to 1981.
It is unlikelythat the IOC will nominate more than one IOC member from Japan, but a second one could be selected by the athletes of the London Olympics. Hammer throw champion Koji Murofushi is the nominee from Japan for election to one of four seats on the IOC Athletes Commission. All athletes at the London Games are eligible to vote. The top four vote-getters among a field of what’s usually a dozen plus candidates win an eight-year term on the commission as well as the IOC.
Written by Ed Hula.
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