French Olympian Joel Bouzou reelected as president of World Olympians Association

MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/. The World Olympians Association (WOA) held its executive elections on Wednesday in the Russian capital of Moscow as part of the organization’s General Assembly held within the frames of the world’s first ever World Olympians Forum (WOF) on October 21-22. Current WOA President Joel Bouzou, a 59-year-old former French Olympian in pentathlon, has been reelected to be at the helm of the organization for another four-year term, while Anthony Ledgard, the 41-year-old former Olympian from Peru, was reelected to the post of the WOA secretary general. The candidates elected to the four-member Board of the World Olympians Association out of total of 21 running candidacies are: Tatiana Lebedeva (Russia), Nadia Cruz (Angola), Freida Nicholls (Barbados) and Malav Shroff (India). The 2015 WOF, established by the World Olympians Association in partnership with the Russian Olympic Committee, is a new platform to celebrate Olympism and the achievements of Olympians worldwide. The WOA General Assembly was held the day after the WOF on Wednesday, when an issue of political and governmental non-interference into the Olympic movement was secured by the forum’s participants in a relevant declaration. The declaration was signed by World Olympians Association (WOA) President Joel Bouzou, IOC President Thomas Bach, and WOA Patron, IOC Member Prince Albert II of Monaco and Olympians representing five continents, Willie Banks (America), Anastasia Davydova (Europe), Hisham El Guerrouj (Africa), Michelle Ford Erikson (Ocenia) and Koji Murofushi (Asia). Although the WOF was opened at 9:00 a.m. with a speech from WOA President Bouzou, Russian President Vladimir Putin formally opened the event after two o’clock in the afternoon addressing the inaugural forum with a speech. This high-level delegation was joined on the WOF program on Wednesday by other Olympians and leading figures from the Olympic Movement including, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, President of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC); IOC Vice-President, Sergey Bubka; Patrick Hickey, IOC Member and European Olympic Committees President; Chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, Claudia Bokel; Frankie Fredericks, IOC Member and former head of the IOC Athletes’ Commission; Kevan Gosper, IOC Member; and Double Olympic Gold Medalist, Yelena Isinbaeva. Read more