World Triathlon President, Marisol Casado, has been appointed by the International Olympic Committee President to six Commissions, serving now in one more Commission than in the previous years. Mrs Casado is now a member of the Future Host Commission; Gender Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Commission; Olympic Solidarity; Education Commission; Coordination Commission of the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad in Paris 2024 and Coordination Commission of the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad in Los Angeles 2028.
For the first time in history, the International Olympic Committee President, Mr.Thomas Bach, has appointed an equal number of women and men to the IOC commissions for 2022. This marks a historic milestone in the IOC’s efforts to increase gender balance at its governance level, which was a key recommendation of Olympic Agenda 2020 and its successor, Olympic Agenda 2020+5. It contributes to the IOC’s wider goal of fostering gender equality and inclusion throughout the sports movement.
Mrs Casado, an IOC member since 2010, is a very active member of the International Olympic Committee, where she also chairs the Gender Equality Review Project Working Group. She is one of the only two female Presidents of International Federations. In addition, she is a member of the ASOIF Council and Treasurer of the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF).
In total, there are now 546 positions across the IOC commissions, with 273 positions occupied by men and 273 by women. This gender balance represents a substantial increase in female representation since the adoption of Olympic Agenda 2020 almost eight years ago, with women accounting for only 20% of commission positions in 2013. In addition, a record high of 13 of the 31 commissions are chaired by women in 2022.
The IOC commissions play a vital role in the organisation’s work, focusing on specific subject areas and making recommendations to the IOC President, the Executive Board and the IOC Session. The composition of each commission includes IOC Members and a range of external experts.
“It is a great honour for me to be appointed on so many responsibility roles at the IOC. Not only because what that represents in terms of advancing towards gender balance, but also for the importance that it has to have the vision of our International Federation in these bodies”, explained Mrs Casado. “I commit myself to serve with dedication, transparency and loyalty to help develop not only our sport, triathlon, but also the whole world of sports within the Olympic movement”, she said.
Double triathlon Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee is currently a member of the Athlete’s Commission.
New commission structure
Several other changes to the IOC commissions have also been made for 2022, reflecting the changing landscape of sport and the strategic goals of Olympic Agenda 2020+5. These include:
- Transferring the Public Affairs and Social Development through Sport Commission and parts of the Communications Commission to a new Public Affairs and Corporate Communications Commission.
- Combining the other parts of the Public Affairs and Social Development through Sport Commission and the Sport and Active Society Commission to create a new Olympism 365 Commission.
- Merging the Olympic Channel Commission and the other parts of the Communications Commission to form a Digital Engagement and Marketing Communication Commission.
- Renaming the Marketing Commission as the Revenue and Commercial Partnerships Commission.
- Renaming the Digital and Technology Commission as the Technology and Technical Innovation Commission
- Renaming the Women in Sport Commission as the Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commission.