Asian Games champion Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski will have a new responsibility in the International Olympic Committe.
The 46-year-old Cojuangco-Jaworski, who served for many years as the IOC Representative to the Philippines, was elected to the Executive Board of the world’s Olympic body.
Her new post was conferred to her during an online meeting of the IOC’s 136th session.
In the meeting, which was the first virtual session in the IOC’s history, replaced world champion pole vaulter Sergey Bubka, whose eight-year term on the Board came to an end.
Bubka, is known to have held the indoor world record of 6.15 meters, set in 1993 in Donetsk before it was broken by France’s Renaud Lavillenie when he cleared 6.16 meters in 2014.
Philippine Olympic Committee president and Tagaytay Representative Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino lauded Cojuangco-Jaworski on her new responsibility.
“Congratulations to her. Another laurel for Philippine sports and the entire region,” said Tolentino in a statement.
Cojuangco will become the first Filipino and Asian woman to be a member of the powerful Executive Board.
The daughter of former Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco’s responsibility revolved around the administration of the IOC, and the monitoring of compliance of member countries with the Olympic Charter.
The current president of the Equestrian Association of the Philippines is a 2002 Busan Asian Games gold medalist.
Cojuangco-Jaworski joined fellow equestrian Gerardo Werthein of Argentina in winning the two Executive Board positions that were being contested in three rounds of voting.
Werthein takes the place of Ser Miang Ng, whose four-year term came to an end, and after he was elected Vice-President.
Their terms of office will start at the end of the 136th IOC Session.
Cojuangco-Jaworski placed second in the first round of voting before claiming the top slot in the second round with 45 majority votes from 93 IOC members.
She will join the IOC President Thomas Bach, four vice Presidents, and nine other members in the Board.
She has been a member of the IOC in 2013.
Previously, Cojuangco-Jaworski was a member of significant committees such as the Coordination Committee for the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympics, Women and Sport Committee, and the Olympic Channel and Communications Committee.
And, she was also in the Evaluation Committees for the Tokyo and Paris Games.
During the session, John D. Coates and Ng replaced Professor UÄŸur Erdener and Juan Antonio Samaranch as Vice-Presidents.
With this election, female representation on the Executive Board has moved up to 33.3 percent.