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Tony Estanguet, President of the Paris 2024 Organsing Committee from 2017 to 2024, has been elected as an IOC member at the 144th IOC Session in Costa Navarino, Greece. He secured his place in the IOC without any problems, securing 98 votes for and 3 against with 0 abstention from the IOC membership, which includes former and current Olympic athletes, international sports leaders, royalty, politicians, diplomats, industrialists and an Oscar-winning actress.

 

Estanguet, the three-time Olympic champion (he won gold medals in Athens, Beijing and London), returns to the IOC as an independent individual, having previously served as an IOC athlete member from 2013 to 2021. He was a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission and served as vice chair of the commission from 2016 to 2018. He was also a member of several IOC Commissions, including Olympic Solidarity from 2014 to 2021, Sport and Environment from 2014 to 2015, Sustainability and Legacy from 2015 to 2018 and Legal Affairs from 2016 to 2018.

 

The 46-year-old was in January 2025 proposed for membership by the IOC Executive Board. According to the IOC, the nomination was possible in accordance with Rule 16.1.1. of the Olympic Charter which allows for up to seven IOC members to be elected in special cases without a nationality or National Olympic Committee (NOC) requirement.

 

The International Olympic Committee will now be led by Kirsty Coventry, the first woman in this position, African, and youngest of the candidates for the position of the tenth President of the Olympic Committee. Coventry secured 49 votes out of 97, followed by Samaranch with 28 votes, with the others far behind.