Michelle Yeoh nominated as new IOC member

KUALA LUMPUR: The International Olympic Commitee's (IOC) Executive Board (EB) has proposed prominent actress Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh as a new IOC member for election to the Session in Mumbai, India.

IOC in a statement said the IOC EB has agreed to propose the Oscar winning actress with seven other new IOC members yesterday, for election to the 141st IOC session in Mumbai, from Oct 15 to 17.

"The EB approved the nomination of eight candidates - four women and four men for election as IOC members in the upcoming session," the statement said.

If Michelle were elected, she would be the sole representative from Malaysia.

IOC president Thomas Bach said all candidates could bring added value to the work of IOC with their experience and diverse expertise in different walks of life.

"What they all have in common is their love of sports and their strong belief in the Olympic values and what the IOC stands for.

"Furthermore, the selection of four women reinforces IOC's commitment towards gender equality by increasing the membership to 44 women, which brings the percentage of women up to 41.1 per cent," he added.

The other seven proposed candidates are Yael Arad (Israel), Balazs Furjes (Hungary), Cecilia Roxana Tait Villacorta (Peru), Michael Mronz (Germany), Petra Sorling (Sweden) and Jae Youl Kim (Korea) and Mahrez Boussayene (Tunisia).

Ipoh-born Michelle made history when she bagged the Best Actress trophy at the 95th Academy Awards through her performance in the comedy-drama film Everything Everywhere All At Once in March.

For the record, Malaysia's last representative to IOC was former Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tan Sri Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja'afar who is now an honorary member of the IOC.

-- BERNAMA