KUALA LUMPUR: The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) executive board has proposed prominent actress Michelle Yeoh as a new IOC member for election at its session in Mumbai, India.
IOC, in a statement, said the IOC board had 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 board approved the nomination of eight candidates – four women and four men for election as IOC members in the upcoming session,” the statement said.
If Yeoh were to be 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 from 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%,” 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), Jae Youl Kim (South Korea) and Mahrez Boussayene (Tunisia).
Ipoh-born Yeoh 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 Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja’afar, who is now an honorary member of the IOC.