(Press Release) – President Svein Arne Hansen today announced the names of the 14 women appointed to European Athletics commissions following a restructure of the consulting bodies approved by the Council at its meeting in Oslo last weekend.
“We have confirmed the appointments of a great group that I am sure will make important contributions to the work and development of European Athletics over the next four years,” said Present Hansen.
“And I am pleased to say that we are sticking by our commitment to bring women into the governing structure of European Athletics and thereby set a strong example for our Member Federations and the clubs around Europe.”
Hansen had earlier announced that the number of commission positions filled by women had increased by 6% to 25% of the total.
The appointments by commission are:
Events & Competition Commission – Cherry Alexander (GBR), Galia Puhaleva (BUL) and Anna Ricardi (ITA).
Member Federation Development Commission – Ana Lukovic (SRB) and Charlotte Svensen (NOR).
Strategic Communications Commission – Olga Aksyonova (UKR), Sylvia Barlag (NED), Sirje Lippe (EST) and Ieva Staponkute (LTU).
Medical & Anti-Doping Commission – Tiia Kuuranne (FIN).
Ivet Lalova (BUL), Hanna-Maari Latvala (FIN), Isabelle Pedersen (NOR) and Dana Veldakova (SVK) were elected by their fellow athletes to the Athletes Commission at last summer’s European Athletics Championships in Zurich.
“European Athletics has been working to raise awareness and promote women leaders at all levels of our sport for some years through our Women’s Leadership Awards, a number of innovative seminars and other measures,” said Hansen.
“It was really gratifying to see how many federations responded to these efforts and saw fit to nominate women for positions.”
European Athletics is in the process of contacting all nominated Commission members to get their confirmation. The complete membership and terms of reference for each commission will be announced as the information becomes available.
Pointing out that expert groups and project teams will be set up in the coming months to support the commissions, Hansen added, “even if we could not use everyone nominated by the federations right now, I am sure that both more men and more women will be asked to help us in these important roles quite soon.”
The review of the commission structure was one of the first items Hansen addressed with his new Executive Board following his election in April.