Why not Mikee?

There is a report from a reliable source that Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski has been endorsed by the IOC Nominations Commission to the IOC Executive Board to stand as a candidate for IOC membership in the next elections in anticipation of Frank Elizalde’s retirement because of reaching the age limit of 80 at the end of this year. Mikee, 38, was nominated by the POC to replace Elizalde in a formal resolution that cleared the way for her name to be considered by the IOC Nominations Commission made up of at least seven IOC members.

It’s a well-known fact that Mikee’s father Jose is the POC president. But her endorsement can’t smack of nepotism because by any standard, Mikee is qualified to stand as an IOC member. Anti-Cojuangco forces within and without the POC are on the attack to question Mikee’s endorsement, sounding the alarm of the reemergence of “Kamaganak Inc.”

But whether you’re anti-Cojuangco or not, let’s be fair to Mikee. Let’s review her situation without considering she’s the POC president’s daughter. It’s not fair to judge her by her blood lineage. She should be judged by her qualifications of competence and ability to perform the functions of an IOC member.

Elizalde himself said the chances for Mikee to succeed him aren’t bad considering the IOC’s goal is to maintain a female membership of 20 percent and right now, it’s up to 18 percent. Mikee’s inclusion will be timely in view of the void. Not all countries are represented in the IOC and it would be a downgrade for the Philippines if Elizalde’s spot isn’t taken over by a Filipino. My take is no Filipino has a better chance than Mikee today to succeed Elizalde so why throw away the opportunity? Why fault Mikee for being her father’s daughter? Why can’t we view Mikee as a representative of the Filipino people instead?

Perhaps, the only setback in pushing for Mikee is her age. Some observers think she’s too young at 38 to join the IOC “boys club” but in the modern era where ideas take precedence over experience, age doesn’t mean a thing. At this year’s IOC Session in London, five new members were elected – China’s Lingwei Li, 48, Japan’s Tsunekazu Takeda, 64, Belgium’s Pierre Olivier Beckers, 52, Djibouti’s Aicha Garad Ali, 45 and Namibia’s Frank Fredericks, 44. It was confirmed at the Session that Elizalde would become an IOC non-voting honorary member starting Jan. 1 next year as he relinquishes his regular membership because of the age restriction.  For the record, the IOC’s 109 members lists three representatives from China, two from Korea and one each from Singapore, Chinese-Taipei, Japan and Indonesia.

The IOC’s 125th Session will be held in September next year in Buenos Aires to decide the host city for the 2020 Olympics, the possible inclusion of new sports in the Olympic calendar, new members and Rogge’s successor. In contention to host the 2020 Games are Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo. Rumored to be among the candidates for president are AIBA’s Wu Ching Kuo, 65 and Singapore’s Ng Ser Miang, 63. Mikee will be elected an IOC member if she is endorsed by the IOC Executive Board and garners the majority of votes cast during the Session. The election of the IOC members by its members is called cooptation.

Some of the IOC members are former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch’s son Juan Antonio, Jr., FIFA president Joseph Blatter, Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal, 34-year-old Adam Pengilly of the UK, 32-year-old Angela Ruggiero of the US and FIBA secretary-general Patrick Baumann. If Mikee is elected, she won’t be the youngest IOC member. There are currently 20 women IOC members.

Incidentally, the sports that are in line to be considered for inclusion in the 2020 program are baseball/softball, karate, squash, roller sports, sport-climbing, wakeboarding, wushu and surfing.  

Rather than trying to put down Mikee because of her relationship with the POC president, we should ask whether she is really qualified to succeed Elizalde by answering these questions: Is she articulate and conversant of sports issues such as anti-doping, athletes protection from abuse and equality of opportunities? Does she command respect from subordinates, peers and superiors in sports? Will she be listened to when she speaks in international forums? Is she an advocate of Olympism? Does she have an outstanding record as an athlete? Is she of strong moral background with no stain of civil or criminal violation? Is she level-headed and acts in the best interest of athletes and the country? Can she walk into any door and gain respect of people from all social sectors? Is she responsible and God-fearing? Is she committed to duty in the service of the country? If the answers are yes, then by all means, Mikee should be highly recommended as an IOC member. If the answers are a mix of yes and no, maybe Mikee shouldn’t be considered.

A psychology graduate of Ateneo in 1996, Mikee competed in her first showjumping competition at 16 in Japan. She became a national athlete in equestrian in 1991, shared the team gold at the Asian Pacific Equestrian Games in Melbourne in 1995 and won the golds in the team and individual events at the Nations Cup, a World Cup qualifier, in Kuala Lumpur in 1998. In her third Asian Games in Busan in 2002, Mikee shone brilliantly in capturing the individual gold in showjumping. What made Mikee’s golden moment more momentous was it came on the last day of the 16-day competition when the Philippines badly sought a soothing balm for its wounds from losing a pair of heart-breakers in basketball. Rising to the top was a difficult sacrifice for Mikee who left her husband Dodot Jaworski and their two children (at the time) at home to concentrate on training back to form in a series of competitions in Kuala Lumpur. She “unretired” for a final fling at the Asian Games. Mikee rode three perfect rounds in three days aboard Rustic Rouge to claim the gold, timing 44.46 in her final ride to beat South Korea’s Lee Jin Kyung who completed the route in 43:94 but toppled a pole in incurring four penalty points.