Sweden's Lindberg Elected to IOC Executive Board
Sweden's Gunilla Lindberg returned to the International Olympic Committee executive board Saturday, becoming the second woman on the ruling 15-member body.
Lindberg was elected unopposed Saturday to the single opening on the board, filling a spot vacated by Norway's Gerhard Heiberg after the completion of his four-year mandate.
She received 63 votes in favor, 10 against and four abstentions in the secret ballot on the final day of the IOC's four-day session in Durban.
"Welcome back on board," IOC President Jacques Rogge said.
Lindberg had rotated off the board after serving as an IOC vice president for four years from 2004-08, only the second woman in history elected to that position.
Lebanon's Toni Khoury had also considered running for the executive board position, but decided not to submit his candidacy when it was apparent that Lindberg would win.
"I'm happy that a Scandinavian colleague can take over," said Heiberg, who will remain as chairman of the IOC marketing commission.
Lindberg, 64, has been an IOC member since 1996 and secretary general of the Swedish Olympic Committee since 1989. She was elected to the IOC board in 2000, serving for four years before being promoted to one of the four vice presidents' spots in 2004.
The IOC's first female vice president was American member Anita DeFrantz, who served a four-year term ending in 2001.
The other woman on the board is former hurdles champion Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco. She was elected to the board in 2008, becoming the first female from a Muslim nation on the rule-making body. She filled the spot vacated by Lindberg's departure.
Re-elected to the IOC on Saturday was Britain's Phil Craven, president of the International Paralympic Committee. Having joined the IOC in 2003, Craven received 73 votes in favor and three against.
Three new members were elected to the IOC on Saturday: Jose Perurena Lopez of Spain, Gerardo Werthein of Argentina and Barbara Kendall of New Zealand.
Lopez is president of the international canoe federation and Werthein heads Argentina's national Olympic committee. Kendall competed in windsurfing at five Olympics and won a gold medal in 1992, silver in 1996 and bronze in 2000. She finished sixth in Beijing in 2008.
Kendall had the biggest voting support, with 73 in favor and nine against. Werthein received 68 in favor, 12 against and two abstentions, while the totals for Lopez were 60-16-4.
The IOC also presented one of its top awards, the Olympic Order, to Fernando Lima Bello of Portugal and Kipchoge "Kip" Keino, considered "the father of African distance running" who won gold in the 1,500 meters at the 1968 Mexico Games and 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Keino, who heads Kenya's national Olympic committee, has been an IOC member since 2000.
Becoming honorary members at the end of the year after reaching the retirement age of 80 are Phil Coles of Australia, Chiharu Igaya and Shun-ichiro Okano of Japan, Arne Ljungqvist of Sweden, Lassana Palenfo of Ivory Coast and Antun Vrdoljak of Croatia.