Ingmar De Vos, President of the Fédération Equestre International (FEI) since 2014, was today elected as a Member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) during the IOC Session in Lima (PER). Ingmar De Vos received 70 out of 78 valid votes.
“It is a really great honour for me personally, and for the FEI, to be elected as an IOC Member. I see this as clear recognition of the way the FEI has embraced and continues to embrace Olympic Agenda 2020, our clear focus on sport format changes for Tokyo 2020 and our good governance. I would like to thank the IOC Members for their belief in me and will be honoured to serve the Olympic Movement.”
IOC President Thomas Bach warmly welcomed Ingmar De Vos as an IOC Member: “Ingmar De Vos is a great driver of sport and a true supporter of the Olympic Movement. Under his Presidency the International Equestrian Federation has gone from strength to strength with a series of comprehensive governance and transparency reforms, in line with Olympic Agenda 2020. He will be a valuable addition to the membership of the IOC.”
The Belgian native is the 13th FEI President since the Federation was founded in 1921, and only the fourth to become an IOC Member.
HRH The Princess Royal, who was FEI President from 1986-1994, has been an IOC Member since 1988 and is currently Chair of the IOC Nominations Committee. Her successor, HRH Dona Pilar de Borbon, who was FEI President from 1994-2006, was an IOC Member between 1996 and 2006 and remains an Honorary IOC Member. HRH Princess Haya, who served two terms as FEI President from 2006-2014, was an IOC Member from 2007 until 2014.
Jacques Rogge, who served as IOC President between 2001 and 2013, sent a personal message of congratulations to his fellow Belgian: “I want to congratulate you on your election as an IOC Member and tell you that I am personally very happy for you. I already had the pleasure of working with you in Belgium during my years with the Belgian Olympic Committee and I know that you will contribute greatly to the Olympic Movement.”
Today’s elections bring the number of IOC Members to 102. A total of 15 Member positions are reserved for Presidents or persons holding executive or senior leadership positions in International Federations or other organisations recognised by the IOC across both summer and winter sports.
The news comes just three weeks after the FEI President announced that Longines, the FEI’s Top Partner, had taken on long-term title partnership of the FEI’s premier team series, the FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping and extended its global partnership in the most significant agreement in the history of the FEI. The FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping series is used by many nations to select their teams for the Olympic Games.
Ingmar De Vos, who addressed the IOC Session on Thursday of this week on the subject of good governance during the update on Olympic Agenda 2020, also expressed his delight at this week’s confirmation by the IOC that Paris will host the 2024 Olympic Games and Los Angeles the 2028 Olympic Games.
“We are very happy with the news, as both countries have a long-standing tradition and history of success in equestrian, so spectator support will be phenomenal”, he said. “Both Paris and Los Angeles have both played host to hugely successful Olympic equestrian sport, but also both countries have hosted our flagship event, the FEI World Equestrian Games, so we are confident the infrastructure and knowledge base is already in place.
“There are stunning venues proposed for equestrian in both 2024 and 2028 and they offer a really exciting opportunity for the FEI to help both organising teams deliver the Games in the most cost-effective way.”
More from Horse Sport:
