Incumbent president of Russian Olympic Committee wins re-election

MOSCOW, December 20. /TASS/. President of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Stanislav Pozdnyakov was re-elected to another term on Tuesday. The voting took place at Tuesday’s session of the Russian Olympic delegates in Moscow and the sole candidate in the election, Pozdnyakov, won by unanimous vote. Pozdnyakov, 49, has been at the helm of the ROC since 2018. From 2016 to 2022, he has served as the chief of the European Fencing Confederation. He is a four-time Olympic champion in saber-fencing, in addition to being a ten-time world champion. Speaking at the session earlier in the day, Pozdnyakov focused on alternative ways that Russia could participate in the 2024 Olympic Games. "The best-case scenario is that our athletes will take part in the 2024 Olympics, having cleared the qualifying stage," the ROC chief said. "Otherwise, we will resort to an alternative scenario," he continued. "We will be implementing an Olympic sports program aimed at creating an athletic base and the training of the youth." "The main goal will be to prepare a new generation of athletes, who can enter the top three at the [2028] Olympics after the [2024] Games in Paris," Pozdnyakov added. On February 28, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason. Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments. In mid-October, IOC President Thomas Bach announced that the Olympic body recommended keeping athletes from Russia and Belarus suspended from international sports tournaments. On November 29, the IOC chief called once again on all international sports federations to follow the aforementioned recommendations and impose sanctions against athletes from Russia and Belarus. Following the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Paris will host the Summer Games in 2024, while Los Angeles will host the event in 2028. At the 138th IOC (the International Olympic Committee) session in Tokyo last year, Australia’s Brisbane was selected to host the 2032 Summer Olympic Games. Photo by Valery Sharifulin/TASS Read more