SIR Craig Reedie will consider standing for election to the executive board of the International Olympic Committee next year after missing out on a place on the ruling body yesterday.
The Scot, one of three British IOC members, was defeated by Puerto Rico's Richard Carrion, who heads the IOC's finance commission.
The other seat was won by former Olympic hurdles champion, Nawal El Moutawakel, the first woman from a predominantl
y Islamic country to win a medal at the Games for Morocco in 1984, after Carrion and Reedie both withdrew to ensure there is at least one woman on the board.
Reedie, defeated by 56 votes to 39, said: "It would have been nice to be elected to do four years before London, but Richard Carrion is a good man. There was also the clear feeling that there should be a lady on the executive board.
"From a personal point of view, I will now think about standing next year."
"I feel very honoured to be a member of this big family," El Moutawakel told the session after her election. "Thank you very much for the trust you are putting in me."
After the vote, IOC president Jacques Rogge said to Reedie: "I understand the natural disappointment, and you are a great sport and come from a country that invented sportsmanship. You have our total confidence."
The other four places on the executive board were filled without elections. Denis Oswald and Mario Vazquez Rana were nominated as representatives of the summer sports federations and national Olympic committees. Rene Fasel, head of the international ice hockey federation, is the new winter sports delegate.
Namibia's Frankie Fredericks, a former sprinter, takes over from Ukraine's Sergei Bubka as the athletes' representative.
Bubka was later introduced into the Committee as a regular member in his own right after serving as an athletes commission chief since 1999.
China's Yu Zaiqing, a board member, was elected as an IOC vice-president.
Fasel, of Switzerland, will replace Italy's Ottavio Cinquanta on the board.
Turkey's Ugur Erdener, the international archery federation chief, was the second member to be introduced into the IOC during its 120th session.
The full article contains 365 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
