IOC Members Election Commission

The mission of the IOC Members Election Commission (formerly the Nominations Commission) is to propose and implement a new targeted recruitment process of IOC Members as per recommendation 38 of Olympic Agenda 2020.

This will enable the IOC Session to be composed of Members with different sets of skills and knowledge while ensuring the necessary balance in terms of gender and geography.

The responsibilities of the IOC Members Election Commission are to:

• Propose a new targeted recruitment process to the IOC EB and IOC Session;
• Prepare profiles and propose candidates in order to achieve a diverse and balanced membership of the IOC;
• For each candidature, provide a written report to the IOC Executive Board;
• Gather all useful information on the candidates, including career and sports activities;
• Verify the eligibility, origin and admissibility of each candidature and, if necessary, the candidate’s status as an active athlete or the function to which the candidature is linked;
• In evaluating candidatures linked to a function within an IF or NOC, take into consideration whether a candidate’s respective IF or NOC has an athletes’ commission which is compliant with the applicable regulations of the IOC, and that such IF or NOC is compliant with the Olympic Charter and the World Anti-Doping Code.

The IOC Members Election Commission must include at least one representative of the IOC Ethics Commission and one representative of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, and is supported by the Director General’s Office. 

Following approval of Olympic Agenda 2020, and in particular of its Recommendation 38: “Implement a targeted recruitment process”, the following principles for the new recruitment procedure are being implemented:

• The IOC Members Election Commission is to take a more proactive role in identifying the right candidates to fill vacancies in order to best fulfil the mission of the IOC. The Commission will identify the fields where there are or will be a lack of expertise in the Membership to then conduct a recruitment process, including interviews if required, to fill in the identified gaps.
• The IOC Members Election Commission may be supported by recruitment agencies to identify suitable candidates in the required fields, as well as to conduct the necessary background checks to guarantee the ability of the potential candidates.
• The IOC Ethics Commission will be consulted on the integrity of the candidates
• The IOC Members Election Commission will then proactively contact the identified potential candidates so they can formally take part in the recruitment procedure if interested.
• This new approach doesn’t prevent any spontaneous candidatures to be submitted to the IOC Members Election Commission. These candidatures will be examined against the same set of criteria as those proactively identified by the Commission. Background checks can also be conducted when required.
• The administrative procedure will be simplified: as for any recruitment procedure, all candidates will simply be requested to submit a complete CV and a motivation letter. Each candidature will also require three (3) sponsors within the current IOC Membership.
• The Chair of the Commission, in consultation with the IOC President, is to conduct a first assessment of all candidates and submit a shortlist to the Commission. The procedure of election then follows the current procedure: the Commission will examine the shortlisted candidates and submit to the IOC EB the list of proposed candidates. The IOC EB will then further examine the candidates before submitting the final list of candidates to the IOC Session, which alone is competent to elect any IOC Member.
• For NOC and IF Candidates, the IOC President, after consultation with ANOC, ASOIF or AIWOF respectively would propose these members to the IOC Members Election Commission which will then follow up this proposal(s). They would check the eligibility.
• For Athletes candidates, which are proposed by the NOC, the eligibility is checked by the IOC Members Election Commission. Apart those that are elected by athletes, the President can propose 3 members to the IOC Members Election Commission, which will follow up this (these) proposal(s). The Commission would check the eligibility.
• The candidates proposed for election by the IOC Members Election Commission to the IOC EB and subsequently to the IOC Session shall ensure the geographical and gender balance of the membership.
• The rules of eligibility as currently set by the Olympic Charter (Rule 16) remain in force. In particular, the maximum number (115) and the composition of the membership (up to 70 individual members, 15 athletes representatives, 15 IFs representatives and 15 NOCs representatives) are unchanged (Rule 16 1.1).
• As per the Olympic Charter amendments adopted alongside Olympic Agenda 2020, within the framework of this new procedure, up to five exceptions for the nationality criteria can be granted (second member from the same country).
• Following approval of recommendation 37 of Olympic Agenda 2020, the age limit for IOC Members is set at 70. A one-time extension term of office for a maximum of four years beyond the age limit of 70 can be granted by the IOC Session upon recommendation of the IOC EB, in consultation with the IOC Members Election Commission, in a maximum of five cases at a given time.