Nigerian-born Canadian Olympian, Oluseyi Smith, has been appointed to the Athletes’ Commission (AC) of the International Olympic Committee’s Athletes Commission (AC) to represent the voice of the athletes within the Olympic Movement.
Smith was appointed with Olympians Allyson Felix (US), Alistair Brownlee (Britain), and Masomah Ali Zada (Afghanistan) by the President of IOC, Thomas Bach, in accordance with IOC AC regulations which aim at ensuring a balance between genders, regions and sports within the Commission.
Each of the four athletes can each serve a term of up to eight years. With these appointments, the IOC AC will comprise 14 women and 9 men.
While talking about the appointment, President Bach said: “Athletes are at the very heart of the Olympic Movement, and it is therefore essential that their voices are heard within the IOC. Those voices must be as diverse as possible.
“The appointment of these four new members of the Athletes’ Commission complements the outstanding skills and experience of the Commission and ensures we have great representation across different sports and regions of the world. We look forward to working with each of them in the years ahead as they play a vital role in representing the interests of the global athlete community.”
Smith was born in Ile-Ife Nigeria and represented Canada at Summer and Winter Games. He competed in the 4x100m athletics relay at London 2012 before he switched to bobsleigh and came sixth in the four-man event at PyeongChang 2018.
He once served as Chair of the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Athletes’ Commission and took part in the IOC Young Leaders programme.
First published in Nigerian,Canadian News, https://nigeriancanadiannews.ca/nigerian-born-oluseyi-smith-appointed-to-ioc-athletes-commission/