South Korean bobsledder Won Yoon-jong has been elected to the International Olympic Committee’s Athletes’ Commission, becoming the first South Korean from a winter sport to win a seat.
The IOC announced the results Thursday at the athletes village for the 2026 Milano-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics in Milan. Won finished first among 11 candidates. His term will run for eight years, through 2034. Voting was held among Olympic athletes from late January through Feb. 18.
Won is South Korea’s third IOC athletes’ representative, following taekwondo gold medalist Moon Dae-sung at the 2004 Athens Olympics and table tennis men’s singles gold medalist Yoo Seung-min, a former president of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee. He is the first from a winter Olympic sport.
Short-track speed skater Jeon I-kyung ran in the election at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, and sled athlete Kang Gwang-bae ran at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, but neither was elected. With Won’s election, South Korea now has two active IOC members.
Kim Jae-yeol, president of the International Skating Union, was elected an IOC member in 2023 and was also elected to the executive board at an IOC session held shortly before the Olympics, the report said.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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