Olympia
It worked on the second attempt. Nine days before the general meeting of the Austrian Olympic Committee (ÖOC) scheduled for Friday next week, September 22nd, the election committee set up in July presented a new election proposal for the board on Wednesday.
13.09.2023 16.45
Online since yesterday, 4:45 p.m
At a board meeting held in Vienna, six existing board members and six new candidates were added to the list. This is led by incumbent President Karl Stoss. Elisabeth Max-Theurer (equestrian sports association), Markus Prock (tobogganing) and Sonja Spenderlhofer (athletics) have been proposed as further executive committee members. Each of this trio would serve as vice president in an election.
The eight board members are Johannes Goess-Saurau (golf), Gabriela Jahn (gymnastics), Walter Kapounek (hockey), Gernot Leitner (volleyball), Horst Nussbaumer (rowing), Martin Poiger (judo), Roswitha Stadlober (skiing) and Yasmin Stepina (ice hockey) nominated. The election proposal was unanimously approved and also includes Ulrich Zafoschnig (Sportunion), Dieter Schneider (Sailing) and Andra Schellner (ASVÖ) in the auditor role.
ÖOC before board election
The Austrian Olympic Committee will start the next attempt to elect a new board next week.
Mixture of proven and innovative
The election committee is headed by Herwig van Staa (Schützenbund) and his deputy Peter Korecky (ASKÖ). Matthias Guggenberger was involved in the committee meetings as chairman of the athletes’ commission. The former Tyrolean governor van Staa and Korecky announced in an ÖOC broadcast that the aim was to develop an election proposal supported by a broad majority. The aim is to create a mix of proven members of the existing board as well as new, innovative people.
Plans to bid for the 2034 Olympics
ÖOC President Stoss would not be opposed to a joint application by Carinthia and Slovenia for the 2034 Winter Games.
The self-imposed target was also to reduce the average age on the board and to increase the proportion of women, which was achieved with a proportion of 42 instead of the previous 17 percent. The ratio of summer and winter sports as well as team and individual sports is now shown in a ratio of three to eight. Four ball sports are represented in the proposal, and the group of candidates comes from a total of seven instead of the previous five federal states.
Deep trenches after the first attempt
The previous election proposal was rejected in Vienna on July 3rd with two abstentions by a vote of 31:13. There had been friction and deep rifts for weeks beforehand. Representatives of 40 professional associations, the member of the International Olympic Committee (Stoss), two representatives of the Athletes Commission and one representative each from Sport Austria and the three umbrella organizations were entitled to vote. The current board has been in office since March 2017, but due to the postponement of the Tokyo Games, the period was extended until 2023.
