POSTED: Saturday February 13th 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ITU President Elected as IOC Member

Triathlon strengthens position in the Olympic movement

Vancouver, 12 Feb 2010 - The International Olympic Committee today elected ITU President Marisol Casado as one of six new IOC Members at the 122nd IOC Session, ahead of the Winter Olympic Games. Casado’s election to the IOC as a full member is an honour for the entire triathlon family, further reinforcing ITU’s commitment to the global development of the sport.

Casado has extensive experience and expertise in the Olympic sport of triathlon, being one of the founders of the Spanish Triathlon Federation and intimately involved in the creation of ITU. She served as Secretary General of the Spanish Triathlon Federation (1989-1994 and 1997-2008), concurrently acting as Treasurer of ITU (1992-1994 and 2000-2008). Marisol is a leading figure in the promotion of women in sport in Spain, serving as President of Women and Sport Commission in the Spanish Olympic Committee (1992-1994 and 2000 to present).

Marisol Casado, President of the ITU, said:

“It is truly a great honour to be elected as an IOC Member. I would like to extend gratitude to my new colleagues for their warmest support. I am also deeply grateful to the entire triathlon family whom I have been working with more than 30 years. Contributing to the future of the Olympic Movement, I would like to dedicate myself to this new responsibility.

“I believe triathlon is a sport which promotes the Olympic ideals and a sport which can address issues such as environmental awareness and a healthy lifestyle. Triathlon is a young inspirational sport which links sport competition at its highest level to a healthy balanced lifestyle for all participants of all abilities. Global sport development as typified by Team ITU -a support project for talented athletes in emerging/developing national federations- has always been our core activity, in keeping with the spirit of the IOC’s Olympic Solidarity programmes.

“The sport will see a significant milestone this summer at the first Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, introducing sprint triathlon and 4x mixed team relay triathlon for first time in the Olympic Games. Working closely together with my new colleagues, the organising committee and our triathlon family, we will do our very best to contribute to the successful inaugural event.

“The Olympic Winter Games is a perfect opportunity to listen and learn from my new colleagues and to discuss the future direction of the Olympic Movement. At the same time, I am thrilled to see winter athletes’ outstanding performances, which always is a wonderful motivation.”

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The International Triathlon Union is the world governing body for the Olympic sport of Triathlon and all related MultiSport disciplines: Duathlon, Aquathlon and Winter Triathlon.  ITU was founded in 1989 at the first ITU Congress in Avignon, France and has maintained its headquarters in Vancouver, Canada since then.  It now has over 120 affiliated National Federations around the world and is the youngest International Federation in the Olympics.  Triathlon was awarded Olympic status in 1994.  ITU is proudly committed to supporting the development of the sport worldwide through strong relationships with continental and national federations, working with its partners to offer a balanced sport development programme from grassroots to a high-performance level.  For more information, visit: http://www.triathlon.org

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Keywords · IOC · ITU · Marisol Casado

Name: Brian Mahony
Organization: International Triathlon Union ITU
Email:
Phone: +1.604.904.9248
URL: http://www.triathlon.org

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