David Lappartient has been elected to the IOC
David Lappartient has been elected to the IOC
UCI president David Lappartient has been elected as a member of the International Olympic Committee. Lappartient’s appointment was foreshadowed in December, before confirmation at the IOC’s 139th Session in Beijing on Friday.
CyclingTips understands that IOC membership was a long-held ambition of Lappartient’s, who has risen swiftly through the ranks of global sporting administration. At the 2021 UCI Congress in September last year, Lappartient stood unopposed to secure a second term as UCI president – a title he first grasped in a surprise electoral victory over Brian Cookson in 2017. Prior to that, Lappartient was president of the European Cycling Union (UEC) from 2013; he was also president of the influential French Cycling Federation from 2009 to 2017.
Lappartient’s appointment to the IOC is for an eight-year term, and is in addition to the Frenchman’s existing role as chairman of the IOC’s Esports and Gaming Liaison Group. There are 104 active members of the IOC.
According to a UCI press release, “our president’s mission as an IOC Member will be to represent and promote the interests of the IOC and the Olympic Movement in his country and in the Olympic Movement organisations where he serves.”
The IOC has just overseen the Beijing Winter Olympics, an event tarnished by the twin clouds of a Russian Olympic Committee doping scandal, and the ongoing genocide of the Uyghur minority perpetrated by China. The IOC and the UCI – the latter being a member organisation of the former – pursue an active position of political neutrality. Under Lappartient’s presidency, that stance has allowed the organisation to, with a clear conscience, forge deeper connections with dictators and human-rights abusers.
Lappartient will continue to serve as UCI president until at least the 2025 UCI Congress, simultaneous to his IOC appointments and his role as the mayor of Sarzeau, Brittany.
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