By Karolos Grohmann
BERLIN (Reuters) – The presidents of world soccer body FIFA and the international athletics federation IAAF have not been proposed for appointment to the International Olympic Committee when the IOC session votes in new members in September.
IAAF chief Seb Coe and FIFA’s Gianni Infantino were passed over for a second year running as they battle doping and corruption scandals in their fields. Previous FIFA and IAAF presidents had seats at the IOC table for decades.
The IOC’s nine proposed new members, named on Friday, include Luis Mejia Oviedo, head of the Dominican Republic’s Olympic committee, Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul, Thai entrepreneur and head of her country’s badminton federation, Ingmar De Vos, International Equestrian Federation chief, and Jean-Christophe Rolland, world rowing president.
The IOC gave no reason for the exclusion of Coe and Infantino, who represent two of the biggest federations of the Games.
The IOC also said Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee would not be up for membership re-election at September’s session in Peru at his family’s request due to illness.
The South Korean had been an IOC member since 1996 and played a key role in helping Pyeongchang win the 2018 winter Olympics. He was suspended for two years after being embroiled in a company scandal and was reinstated as IOC member in 2010.
Infantino was elected head of FIFA in 2016 to succeed scandal-plagued Sepp Blatter and lead the federation out of its biggest graft crisis.
Former double Olympic champion Coe took over the IAAF in 2015 as a doping scandal unfolded, severely damaging the credibility of the organization.
Coe triggered the ire of the IOC when the IAAF blocked Russian track and field athletes from competing at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics last year over the doping affair.
Coe’s predecessor Lamine Diack faces a bribery and embezzlement investigation in France.
Both Blatter and Diack were IOC members until 2015. Blatter’s predecessor at FIFA, Joao Havelange, was an IOC member from 1963 to 2011.
Diack’s predecessor, Primo Nebiolo, was also an IOC member.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Andrew Roche and David Holmes)
