President Lee Jae-myung sent congratulations to Won Yoon-jong, a bobsledder elected as a new International Olympic Committee athletes’ commission member.
In a late-night social media post on the 19th, Lee welcomed the news from the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics site, writing that he was pleased to see a third South Korean chosen as an IOC athletes’ commission member.
Won received 1,176 votes to lead 11 candidates, according to results announced on the 19th (Korean time) at the Milan athletes’ village delegation meeting hall (CDM). He won 1,176 of 4,786 valid ballots cast by 2,393 voters, meeting the election threshold awarded to the top two vote-getters. He becomes the third South Korean to serve on the commission, after Moon Dae-sung (taekwondo) and Yoo Seung-min (table tennis).
In his message, Lee noted that Won won a silver medal in four-man bobsleigh at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and helped lift South Korean bobsleigh into the world’s top tier. Lee also said Won later served as an athletes’ representative with the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation and the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, consistently speaking up for athletes’ rights.
Lee said finishing first in votes amid intense competition reflected Won’s leadership, trust and sincerity on the international stage, adding that the government would actively support his work as an IOC athletes’ commission member.
Won is set to undergo nomination and approval procedures at an IOC session on the 22nd. He will be formally introduced as a new member at the Milan Winter Olympics closing ceremony the same day and will begin his official term on the 23rd.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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