Moroccan Olympic gold medallist Nawal El Moutawakel has become the first Muslim woman elected to the IOC's powerful executive board. El Moutawakel won her seat unopposed on Thursday after Puerto Rican Richard Carrion and Britain's Craig Reedie withdrew from running against her to ensure there was one woman on the IOC executive Board. She had 85 votes in favour and 12 against from 97 valid votes. “I feel very honored to be a member of this big family,” El Moutawakel told the session after her election. “Thank you very much for the trust you are putting in me.” IOC Vice President Gunilla Lindberg's term ended on Wednesday and the board would have had no woman members had El Moutawakel not been elected. The 15-member board is responsible for setting the Olympic agenda. It meets four times a year and can ban athletes from Games for doping offences. The IOC said in 1996 it would aim for a 20 percent share of women in its overall membership but is still way off that target with only 16 women out of 110 members. The US-educated El Moutawakel, who won Olympic gold in the 400 metres hurdles in 1984, joined the IOC in 1998, and has been a member of various commissions. Carrion, who works closely with IOC President Jacques Rogge in broadcast rights negotiations, later defeated Reedie in a run-off, retaining his seat on the board with a 56-39 win. “I congratulate Richard. I am an admirer of the work he does,” said Reedie, who had hoped to get on the board four years before the London 2012 Games. China's Yu Zaiqing, who was a board member, got elected as an IOC vice president. Swiss member Denis Oswald and Mexican Marion Vazquez Rana retained their seats while former Olympic sprinter, Namibian Frankie Fredericks replaced Sergei Bubka as a representative of the athletes commission. Bubka was later introduced into the IOC as a regular member in his own right after serving as an athletes commission chief since 1999. Rene Fasel of Switzerland, the international ice hockey federation president replaced Italy's Ottavio Cinquanta as the winter sports representative on the board. Turkey's Ugur Erdener, the international archery federation chief, was the second member to be introduced into the IOC during its 120th session.
