PANAM SPORTS: Ilic handily elected to third term as President at General Assembly

Re-elected Panam Sports President Neven Ilic of Chile (Image: Panam Sports screenshot)

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≡ ELECTIONS ≡

At the Panam Sports General Assembly in Asuncion, Paraguay, Chilean engineer and International Olympic Committee member Neven Ilic was elected to a third term as President.

The vote was 37-16 over Keith Joseph (VIN), the President of the Caribbean Association of National Olympic Committees.

In his remarks ahead of the vote, Ilic, 62, praised the progress that Panam Sports has made during his time in office and told the delegates that he is not running again to further any of his own ambitions, but to continue to work on behalf of the 41 National Olympic Committees which make up the confederation.

Joseph asked the delegates to consider the need for change, and with IOC President Thomas Bach (GER) in the room, echoed Bach’s call to “change or be changed.” Joseph has said he would like to see the confederation membership expanded, see more transparent governance and the use of more expertise from the member countries in the development of sports in the Americas.

After the remarks, the electronic voting devices were distributed and two unsuccessful test votes were held. After more than 20 minutes, a motion was made and passed to vote on paper!

The NOC representatives were called up one by one, wrote their choice on a card and deposited the card(s) in a transparent ballot box. A process which should have taken – in total – less than a half-hour, went on for almost an hour.

Ilic was voted onto the IOC in 2017 and is a member of the Coordination Commission for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. He was initially elected in 2017 as the 10th Panam Sports head and re-elected without opposition in 2020; he’s the first Panam Sports President from Chile.

He and Joseph embraced after the vote totals were read and Ilic made some added brief remarks, leading with “Thank you for the opportunity.”

There were also elections for the Panam Sports Executive Committee and for three Vice President slots from three different groups of NOCs. Sarah Hirshland of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee ran unopposed as the Group 1 Vice President.

The three new Vice Presidents for the 2024-28 quad will be Veda Bruno-Victor (GRN) as First Vice President, Uruguay’s Camilo Perez as Second Vice President and Hirshland will serve as Third Vice President.

The General Assembly concludes tomorrow and is available for viewing on the Panam Sports channel.

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