Boulmerka, Bubka, Crooks and Zelezny elected IOC members
As part of the ongoing reforms of the International Olympic Committee, ten - former or still in activity - athletes have been elected members of the IOC as athletes’ representatives. Of the ten, four athletes represent track and field:
Hassiba Boulmerka (ALG), 31: 1991 and 1995 World Champion at 1500m, she also won Olympic gold at 1500m in Barcelona 1992. In Tokyo, she became the first African woman ever to win a World Championships gold.
Sergey Bubka (UKR), 36: 6 times pole vault World Champion from 1983 to 1997 and Olympic Champion in Seoul 1988. The first man to clear 6 metres, he established a total of 35 world records – 17 indoor and 18 outdoor.
Charmaine Crooks (CAN), 37: 4x400m silver medallist at the 1984 Olympic Games, and 7th in the individual 400m race. Already part of the IOC Ethics Commission, she is now a well known TV presenter in Canada.
Jan Zelezny (CZE), 33: Double World and Olympic Champion in the javelin throw. He won titles in Stuttgart 93 and Gothenburg 95 and Barcelona 92 and Atlanta 96. Zelezny set a total of 5 world javelin records between 1987 and 1996, the latest of which, 98.48m, still stands today.
