EOK | Elected leadership for the 2021-2025 term
At the 50th jubilee session of the General Assembly of the European Olympic Committees, which officially began on June 10th, in the heart of the Olympic Games, Athens, the leadership of the European Olympic Committees for the period 2021-2025 was elected.
The president of the Greek Olympic Committee, Spiros Kapralos, was elected today as the 9th president of the European Olympic Committees (EOC), with 34 votes, while the opposing candidate, the president of the Danish Olympic Committee, Nils Nigard, won 16 votes. The two members of the EOC executive Board were the only two candidates to run for the lead role in the European Olympic Movement, with an initial term of four years (2021-2025).
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2021-2025
Vice President Daina Gudzineviciute (LTU), Secretary General Raffaele Pagnozzi (ITA) and Treasurer Peter Mennel (AUT) were elected, and were joined by EC members:
Hasan Arat (TUR)
José Manuel Araújo (POR)
Jean-Michel Brun (FRA)
Victoria Cabezas (ESP)
Mihai Covaliu (ROU)
Líney Rut Halldorsdóttir (ISL)
Berit Kjoll (NOR)
Zlatko Matesa (HR)
Annamarie Phelps (GBR)
Uschi Schmitz (GER)
Cristina Vasilianov (MDA)
Djordje Višacki (SRB)
Following a proposal by the Olympic Federation of Ireland (OFI), approved by the EOC GS in November 2020, at least five of the 16 members of the Executive Board must now be of the same sex. For the first time in the history of the EQF, seven women sit on the Executive Committee, compared to two during the previous 2017-2021 term.
EOC ETHICS COMMISSION
Today, a new EOC Ethics Commission was elected, and Maja Smrdu (SLO), Martina Spreitzer-Kropiunik (AUT) and Juha Viertola (FIN) were elected as three members.
Sessions of the EOC General Assembly were attended by representatives of all 50 European National Olympic Committees (ENOCs), 46 representatives and an additional 4 virtually. On behalf of the Olympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the session of the Assembly was attended by Mr. Marijan Kvesić, President of the Olympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina and dr sci. Said Fazlagić, Secretary General of the OC BiH.
President Kapralos stated: “I was very proud to have served the EQF as a member of the Executive Board. It is really a great privilege to have the opportunity to now lead the Executive Committee on your behalf, the National Olympic Committees of Europe. Your support means so much to me. I am very grateful. I will be an engaged, open-minded, transparent president of all nations."
Kapralos announced his intention to run for president of the EOC during last year's General Assembly, which was held online due to the pandemic. To the position of the President of the EOC, Mr. Kapralos comes to the position of President after Dr. Janez Kocijančič, who passed away on June 1st, 2020 at the age of 78.
Kapralos, who became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2019, has promised to work on behalf of all 50 ENOCs to strengthen Europe's place in the Olympic Movement, both on and off the field.
"Together we will strive for better progress in the next four years and we will support our members, the National Olympic Committees (especially those with greater needs) and the organizers of our events even more," he said. "Through unity, trust and solidarity, we can raise EOC to a higher level."
As chairman of the Coordination Commission for the first two editions of the European Games (Baku 2015 and Minsk 2019), Kapralos will play an integral role in organizing the third edition of the Games scheduled for Krakow-Malopolska in 2023, working closely with Hassan Arat, chairman of the 2023 European Games Coordination Commission.
An Olympic water polo player who represented Greece at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow and Los Angeles in 1984, Kapralos has been president of the HOC since 2009 and a member of the EOC Executive Committee since November of that year.
