Mikee in elite company

Of the 111 elected members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), only 24 are females and one of them is Filipina Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski who took 79 of 97 votes to claim a seat in the world’s most powerful sports body at the polls in Buenos Aires recently. It’s quite an honor to be recognized by the IOC family and Mikee is only the third Philippine member since the late Jorge Vargas and Francisco Elizalde.

Muay Association of the Philippines vice president Red Dumuk wrote in the other day to mention that there are four other IOC members younger than Mikee. He named Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim bin Hamed Al-Thani who is 33, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Nawaf Faisal Fahd Abdulaziz who is 35, Egypt’s Rania Elwani who is 35 and Ethiopia’s Dagmawit Girmay Birhame who is 38. He missed out on South Korea’s Dae Sung Moon and China’s Yang Yang who are 37. I had previously listed the UK’s Adam Pengilly, 35, and the US’ Angela Ruggiero, 33. Dumuk pointed out that FIBA secretary-general and IOC member Patrick Baumann is 46, not 31. Baumann’s namesake and Swiss countryman is a former football player who is 31. In the internet, the FIBA secretary-general’s photo is attached to a bio of the football player, creating the mistaken identity.

In the latest IOC membership directory, Elwani is not listed so it’s likely the former swimmer was not reelected. She was named an IOC member in 2004. A membership term is for eight years and subject to reelection until 70 years old. Mikee is now 39. There are two other IOC members who are 39, namely, Finland’s Saku Koivu and the United Arab Emirates’ Princess Haya Al Hussein. Dumuk mentioned another 39-year-old Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco but he’s not in the latest IOC listing. El Guerrouj is a member of the IOC Athletes Commission.

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The IOC has 23 Asian voting members. Three are Chinese, namely Zaiqing Yu, 62, Yang Yang and Lingwei Li, 49. Two are from South Korea, Kun Hee Lee, 71, and Dae Sung Moon. The other countries are represented by one delegate each, namely Taiwan’s Dr. Ching Kuo Wu, 66, Thailand’s Nat Indrapana, 74, Kuwait’s Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, 50, Pakistan’s Syed Shahid Ali, 67, North Korea’s Ung Chang, 75, Singapore’s Ser Miang Ng, 64, Syria’s Samih Moudallal, 74, Hong Kong’s Timothy Tsun Ting Fok, 67, India’s Raja Randhir Singh, 66, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Nawaf, 62, Qatar’s Sheikh Al Thani, 62, Malaysia’s Prince Tunku Imran, 65, United Arab Emirates’ Princess Haya, Indonesia’s Rita Subowo, 65, Oman’s Habib Macki, 60, Jordan’s Prince Feisal Al Hussein, 50, Japan’s Tsunekazu Takeda, 65 and Mikee.

Among 32 honorary non-voting IOC members, six represent Asian countries – India’s Ashwini Kumar, Mongolia’s Shaqdarjav Magvan, China’s Zhenliang He, Japan’s Chiharu Igaya and Shunichiro Okano and Elizalde.

It’s interesting that of the 111 IOC members, only 40 performed in the Olympics and 27 were medalists. Newly elected IOC president Thomas Bach of Germany was a gold medalist on the foil squad at the 1976 Montreal Games and his predecessor Dr. Jacques Rogge of Belgium was also an Olympian in sailing. Dr. Rogge competed in three Olympics in 1968, 1972 and 1976.

Dumuk said Malaysia’s Prince Imran ran for a seat in the IOC Executive Board and failed to make it, leaving no representation for Asia. However, in the IOC directory, the 14 Executive Board members included Taiwan’s Dr. Wu, the AIBA president, so Asia is still represented. Dr. Wu and Singapore’s Ng were among six contenders in the recent IOC presidential polls topped by Bach. The other countries represented in the Executive Board are Germany, Russia, Spain, Australia, Morocco, Sweden, Ireland, South Africa, Switzerland, Great Britain, Guatemala and the US.

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Mikee, the 2002 individual showjumping gold medalist at the Asian Games, is in elite company. She was quoted as saying it’s a life-long commitment to serve in the IOC. No doubt about it, Mikee deserves her place among the world’s most influential sports leaders. She’s an athlete herself who knows what it’s like to compete for one’s country. She’s aware of the hardships, the sacrifices and the pressures an athlete undergoes. She’ll fight for the athletes’ benefits and welfare. She’ll crusade for equal rights among countries, regardless of size or economic situation. She’s articulate, expressive and decisive.

Mikee could surely champion the cause of promising athletes from developing countries, looking for ways to support their growth into Olympians. She could propose programs to level the playing field in Olympic sports so that the haves and the have-nots compete on a relatively even keel. She could bat for more female and youth participation in the Olympics, perhaps opening an under-23 3x3 basketball event in the future. Mikee will make every Filipino proud of her participation in the IOC as she makes an impact in the august halls of the Olympic assembly.