Akaash Maharaj, former head of Equestrian Canada, was elected to the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Olympic Supporters category during the COC’s annual session on May 1-2. He will retain the posting through 2024.
Olympic Supporters are defined in the COC by-laws as “… the group of up to 125 individuals who have a strong and active interest in the Olympic movement, are prominent in their learned professions in business, sport, or community activity, and have been approved by the Board.” They are chosen to provide the COC with a pool of people who can offer unique skills and experience which the COC needs to serve the national sport system, but which may not be entirely supplied by those elected to the Olympic membership. The COC draws on Olympic Supporters for members of committees, task forces, and working groups.
Maharaj explains, “Olympic Supporters are invited to participate in deliberations at the COC Session, though we do not vote. There are also periodic meetings between the COC Board, Olympic Supporters, and the COC membership. These meetings provide guidance to the COC and enable the COC to keep the national community abreast of developments.”
Maharaj, who lives in Toronto, retrieved his horse Bello’s old Team Canada horse blanket for the occasion, which dates from his past tenure as a COC Member.
As current CEO at The Mosaic Institute (a ‘think-and-do’ tank which brings people, communities, and nations together to reduce conflict, foster mutual understanding and create strategies for peaceful coexistence), as well as volunteer Director of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport and former CEO at the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption, Maharaj has a rich background in ethics, international peace and conflict resolution. “I was invited to be an Olympic Supporter because of my experiences in equestrian sport, sport integrity, and international affairs,” said Maharaj. “After my time as head of the national equestrian federation, I served as one of the two governance experts who led the reforms of the World Anti-Doping Agency, and as one of the five independent experts who advised the International Paralympic Committee in the aftermath of the Russian state-sponsored doping crisis.
“Thus far, my contributions to the COC as an Olympic Supporter have been primarily on the responsibility of the sport system to defend human rights. I believe this has taken on a special urgency in light of United Nations findings that the Communist Party of China is operating a web of concentration camps against the Uyghur people.
“I believe passionately in the capacity of sport to bring people together across the divides that beset the human condition. I am no less alert to the hard reality that the power of sport is too often co-opted for venal purposes. I am honoured the COC has given me an opportunity to contribute to the cause of ethical sport in the Olympic movement.”
At the COC same session, Tricia Smith, who won rowing silver for Canada in the women’s pairs alongside Betty Craig at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, was elected president of the Canadian Olympic Committee for a third term.
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