Park In-bee among 32 athlete candidates in IOC membership vote

7-time golf major winner to compete for 4 places in elections at Paris Games

LPGA Hall of Famer Park In-bee will be one of 32 athletes vying for a spot on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athletes’ Commission in an election next year, the top Olympic body announced Thursday.

The IOC unveiled a list of the 32 athletes — 18 female and 14 male — whose candidacy has been approved by the IOC Executive Board.

Park, a 21-time LPGA Tour winner and the 2016 Olympic gold medalist, was first nominated by the Korean

Sport & Olympic Committee in August, after beating out four other hopefuls.

Four positions are up for election to be held at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Among the four outgoing elected members is Ryu Seung-min, the 2004 Olympic men’s table tennis champion from Korea who was elected at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Before Ryu, former Olympic taekwondo champion Moon Dae-sung had represented Korea on the Athletes’ Commission from 2008 to 2016.

According to the IOC, four candidates from four different sports will be elected by their peers. All athletes competing in Paris will be eligible to vote at the athletes’ village in the French capital.

The Athletes’ Committee is composed of a maximum of 23 members — 12 members directly elected by fellow athletes and a maximum of 11 appointed — and they each serve an eight-year term.

Park, who has won seven LPGA major titles, is joined on the shortlist by American sprint legend Allyson Felix, who has captured seven Olympic gold medals and 11 medals overall across four competitions.

Other Olympic champions on the list include Aron Szilagyi, a three-time fencing gold medalist from Hungary; Mariana Pajon, who has won two cycling gold medals for Colombia; and Paula Pareto, a judo gold medalist from Argentina.

Korea currently has two other IOC members aside from Ryu: Lee Kee-heung, president of the KSOC, who was elected in 2019, and Kim Jae-youl, head of the International Skating Union who joined Lee in an election in September.

According to the IOC, its Athletes’ Commission is represented at all levels of decision-making in the IOC and its members are directly involved in all decisions taken by the IOC. The athlete members also serve as a link between Olympians and the IOC.