Cojuangco-Jaworski on exec board of Intl Olympic Committee

MIKEE Cojuangco-Jaworski confirmed she is now part of the powerful, governing body of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after being elected a member of its 15-man executive board (EB) during the EB’s 136th session on Friday night.

The 46-year-old told The Manila Times on Saturday that the IOC has not shared any plans with her yet as it had only finished the election, which was conducted through an online meeting for the first time due to global lockdowns. Still, she was able to tell more about the EB.

“It’s really the main decision making body of the IOC. You are part of the team, and you’re not alone there that you will do whatever you wanted to do,” explained Cojuangco-Jaworski.

“So, it’s being part of a team entrusted by the members of the IOC to make the decisions and have the information to make those decisions that will affect the Olympic movement,” said the daughter of former Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco Jr.

Cojuangco-Jaworski, the first Filipino and Asian woman to be elected to the post, bared that the IOC remains focused on preparations for next year’s Tokyo Olympics that has been rescheduled to be from July 23 to August 8 after being postponed this year due to the pandemic.

“Siyempre tuluy-tuloy lang naman ‘yung preparation. Hindi lang natin alam yung situation in one year. At lahat naman tayo gustong matuloy nang maayos ‘yung Olympics. Pero may mga different scenarios na pinag–aaralan (Of course, preparations have been continuous. We just don’t know what the situation will be like in one year. And we all want the Olympics to continue properly. But there are different scenarios that are being studied),” she added without further elaboration.

Together with fellow equestrian Gerardo Werthein of Argentina, the 2002 Busan Asian Games equestrienne gold medalist won a seat at the executive board, claiming the top post with 45 votes out of 93 members of the IOC. Seven years after becoming a member of the IOC in 2013, she joined the IOC president, four vice presidents and nine other members in the executive board.

Cojuangco-Jaworski also informed The Manila Times that she succeeded her father as Equestrian Association of the Philippines president last March 11 after he retired as the head of the association.