By James Diamond |
Six-time Olympic medalist Kimberly Rhode from the United States has been elected as the new chair of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Athlete Committee.
The ISSF Executive Committee met during the World Championships in Changwon in South Korea to officially confirm the new members.
As well as Rhode who was named chair, two shotgun athletes, two from rifle shooting and two from pistol events were also elected.
The four candidates who received the highest number of votes and were therefore automatically elected were Rhode, shotgun athlete Danele Di Spigno from Italy, Germanys Christian Reitz, a pistol shooter, and Brazil’s rifle marksman Cassio Cesar Rippel.
Rhode was named as the new chair as she reportedly received the most votes.
The three other new members were appointed by the Executive Committee based on the vote count, coupled with the need to achieve gender equality and parity among the disciplines.
The further three new members were named as Ukraine’s Olena Kostevvch from pistol shooting, Great Britain’s Elena Allen who competes in shotgun and rifleman Petar Gorsa from Croatia.
Voting for the Athlete Committee took place during the World Championships from September 2 to 11 and was supervised by the World Championship jury of appeal.
Vote counting went ahead on September 11 and was witnessed by the outgoing Athlete Committee chairman, Abhinav Bindra, and Danka Bartekova, a member of the International Olympic Committee’s Athletes’ Commission.
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.
Editor’s note: The United States Sports Academy honored American shooter Kim Rhode – the most successful female shooter in Olympic history with medals in six consecutive Olympics – with a 2016 Distinguished Service Award.