July 13, 2017 – This week, the IOC Executive Board approved the candidatures of six winter sports athletes for the IOC Athletes’ Commission elections, which will be held next February during the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. Two of them – Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen (NOR) and Kikkan Randall (USA) – are FIS athletes, both in cross-country skiing.

Other candidates are: Ander Mirambell (ESP) (skeleton); Emma Terho (FIN) (ice hockey); Hong Zhang (CHN) (skating/speed-skating); and Armin Zoeggeler (ITA) (luge).

Two seats on the Commission will become vacant in 2018, with current Chair Angela Ruggiero and member Adam Pengilly finishing their terms of office next February. All athletes participating in the next Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang are eligible to vote. After approval by the IOC Session, the two elected Olympians will become IOC Members for an eight-year term.

Find out more about the candidates here.

First Congress inspection in Marrakech

FIS Secretary General Sarah Lewis visited Marrakech (MAR) on 7^th July for the first inspection of the venue of the 52^nd FIS Congress in 2020 with Heinz Gurtner, Manager of FIS Travel Service which will handle the accommodation and travel for the 800 to 1000 participants.

Together with members of the Royal Moroccan Federation of Ski and Mountaineering, including President Haj Abdenbi Lerhenane, the group undertook a full tour of the Mövenpick Hotel Mansour Eddahbi and Palais de Congres to view the facilities for the International Ski Congress 2020. Lewis also met with members of the National Ski Association together with the Moroccan National Olympic Committee and Ministry of Sport and Youth to discuss the national association’s activities and ambitious development plans, as well as the general programme and the various organisational aspects for staging the Congress .

”The first FIS Congress in North Africa will be another milestone for our organisation and Marrakech offers an excellent location for this historical event. The facilities at the Palais de Congres will enable a compact organisation serviced by a highly professional team from the Mövenpick Hotel Mansour Eddahbi, with excellent engagement from the Royal Moroccan Federation of Ski and Mountaineering.”

The FIS Council, meeting in the spring of 2017, selected the Moroccan city to host the 52^nd FIS Congress in 2020 from among four candidates: Morocco, Brazil, China and Ireland.

Independent Testing Authority

Among numerous decisions made by the IOC Executive Board this week is the creation of an Independent Testing Authority (ITA). The IOC Executive Board approved on principle the ITA business model. The ITA will be an independent non-for-profit Swiss Foundation that will provide doping control services to International Federations and Major Event Organisations to help compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code in an autonomous and harmonised manner. The establishment of the ITA was called for by the Olympic Summit, and endorsed by WADA.

Read more here.