By: L.N. Reklai
August 11, 2017 (Koror, Palau) Minister Baklai Temengil-Chilton has been nominated for membership of the International Olympic Committee. She is one of the nine individuals selected by IOC Election Commission and presented to IOC Executive Board. Final approval will come at the International Olympic Committee Session in Lima, Peru next month from September 13-16, 2017.
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Other nominees include Thailand’s Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul, Norway’s Kristin Kloster Aasen, Czeck Republic’s Jiri Kejval, Dominican Republic’s Luis Mejia Oviedo, Chile’s Neven Ilic, Oman’s Khalid Bin Mohammed Al-Zubair, France’s Jean-Christophe Rolland, and Belgium’s Ingmar de Vos.
The selection is limited to federation representatives and individual members. France’s Jean-Christophe Rolland and Belgium’s Ingmar de Vos represent federations while the rest including Minister Baklai Temengil-Chilton are nominated as individual members.
Pacific Games Council extended their congratulations to Minister Baklai’s nomination, expressing their support of her candidacy.
If Minister Baklai Temengil-Chilton is approved, she will be the second woman from Oceania to be a member of the IOC, after Ms. Auvita Rapilla of Papua New Guinea.
IOC President Thomas Bach in a statement expressed, “These nine candidates will add to the huge range of knowledge and experience within the IOC membership.”
The selection process is conducted by the IOC Members Election Commission which recruits members based on certain criteria set by IOC such as looking for “different sets of skills and knowledge while ensuring the necessary balance in terms of gender and geography.” [/restrict]