The target audience in the campaign to host the 2024 Summer Olympics is undergoing big changes.
At the Rio Games in August, the International Olympic Committee is expected to name eight new members, all of whom will have a say in whether the U.S. hosts the Games for the first time since 2002.
Also, four new athlete commission members will be elected to replace outgoing members, and a fifth spot became open in April when Norwegian biathlon star Ole Einar Bjørndalen resigned.
Proposed new IOC members
■ Canada: Tricia Smith, president, Canadian Olympic Committee
■ Colombia: Luis Moreno, president, Inter-American Development Bank
■ Finland: Sari Essayah, chair, Finnish Christian Democratic Party
■ Italy: Ivo Ferriani*, president, International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation
■ Austria: Karl Stoss, chairman of the board, Casinos Austria AG; president, Austrian Olympic Committee
■ Papua New Guinea: Auvita Rapilla, secretary general, Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee
■ South Africa: Anant Singh, film producer
■ India: Nita Ambani, founder and chair, Reliance Foundation
* As a member from a country submitting a 2024 host city bid, Ferriani will not be allowed to cast a ballot until Rome is eliminated.
That means the IOC, now with 91 members, will include at least 13 first-time voters when Los Angeles, Paris, Rome and Budapest vie for hosting duties in September 2017.
The expansion comes after the IOC’s voting rolls shrank to its smallest size in modern times. Just 84 people cast ballots last year to decide the location of the 2022 Winter Games, the smallest vote since 1981.
Overall, the changes are shaping up as the most significant since the post-Salt Lake City scandal reforms in the early 2000s, which added 15 new voters to the body among other changes.
How exactly the expansion and turnover will influence the 2024 vote and other decisions is a matter of speculation. But it’s clear that old patterns may no longer apply. “It’s a great question to ask, which is an acknowledgment that the voting class of 2017 is a very different animal to the ones of 10-15 years ago,” said Michael Payne, former director of marketing for the IOC. “And it’s correct, the membership as it stands today is at one of the lowest levels in years.”
The new members will not alter the geographic status quo of the European-centric body, with the list of proposed new members including three Europeans and one person each from five other continents. In any case, many experts and members believe geographic alliances in bid voting are apocryphal.
The only North American proposed new member, Canadian Olympic Committee President Tricia Smith, declined to comment.
New members generally are seen as more likely to follow guidance from the IOC executive board. Under reforms proposed by IOC President Thomas Bach, the new members were selected to fill specific perceived needs. The group of eight new members includes two business leaders, a film producer and a development nonprofit founder along with more traditional Olympic roles (see box).
