Norway's Heiberg re-elected to IOC board

Gerhard Heiberg of Norway was re-elected Saturday to the powerful IOC executive board, defeating three other candidates and validating his work as the Olympics' top marketing official.

GUATEMALA CITY — Gerhard Heiberg of Norway was re-elected Saturday to the powerful IOC executive board, defeating three other candidates and validating his work as the Olympics' top marketing official.
    U.S. candidate Anita DeFrantz finished last in the voting in what she described as another sign of global anti-American sentiment. There is no U.S. voice on the 15-member executive body.
    ''We unfortunately are still in the least-favored nation status,'' DeFrantz said. ''There is still a lot of work we have to do.''
    Heiberg, who ran the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, won on the first round of a secret ballot of the International Olympic Committee. He received 49 votes, followed by Spanish member Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. with 22 votes, Algeria's Mustapha Larfaoui with 15 and Defrantz with six.
    Heiberg's seat had become vacant after the end of his four-year term. He is one of 10 regular members on the board, which also includes four vice presidents and President Jacques Rogge.
    ''I can promise you I will work as hard as ever … to bring as much revenue to the Olympic movement as possible,'' Heiberg told the assembly.
    As head of the IOC marketing commission, Heiberg negotiates sponsorship deals.
    Heiberg said Friday the current 12 global sponsors are paying $866 million through the 2008 Beijing Games. He said eight companies have already agreed to $800 million in deals for the 2010-2012 Games, and he is seeking four more deals.
    DeFrantz's low vote count was another humiliating result for the United States, which has been without a member on the board since Jim Easton lost his seat in 2006.
    ''I am stunned,'' DeFrantz said immediately after the vote. ''I hope this is not something to suggest that women cannot be elected to the executive board again. I will remain stunned for a while.''
    Rogge urged her to stay on as chair of the IOC's women and sports commission and said, ''We count on you very much to further promote the cause of women.''
    There is only one woman on the IOC board, Vice President Gunilla Lindberg of Sweden.
    DeFrantz, a former Olympic rower, has been a member since 1986. She became the first woman elected as an IOC vice president in 1997. She ran for the presidency in 2001, but finished last in the four-person race with nine votes.
    Before Easton's defeat last year, the last time the United States had no member on the board was a seven-month transition period between the end of DeFrantz's term as vice president in July 2001 and Easton's election in February 2002. Otherwise, there had been a continuous U.S. presence on the body since 1989.
    American member Bob Ctvrtlik, the international relations director for the U.S. Olympic Committee, said it was unlikely the United States would put up another candidate until 2010.
    ''Maybe we take a few steps forward and a half a step back, but the USOC is committed over the long term to be a good partner with the Olympic movement,'' he said.
    The IOC also elected four new members, including two women, to bring the total membership to 115, including 16 women and 11 royals.
    The new members are Princess Haya of the United Arab Emirates, Andres Botero of Colombia, Rita Subowo of Indonesia and Patrick Baumann of Switzerland.
    Haya, 33, is president of the international equestrian federation and competed in show jumping for Jordan at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She is one of two wives of the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, and the daughter of Jordan's late King Hussein.
    Subowo was the first woman elected president of the Indonesian Olympic Committee. Botero is head of the Colombian Olympic Committee and president of the international water skiing body. Baumann is secretary general of the international basketball federation. He becomes the fifth IOC member from Switzerland, and his low vote count of 47 out of 88 ballots reflected concern over that small country's heavy representation in the Swiss-based body.  
    In other action, the IOC approved a one-time rule change clearing the way for three key Olympic leaders to remain on the executive board through 2012.
    The move affects Switzerland's Denis Oswald, head of the summer sports federations; Italy's Ottavio Cinquanta, leader of the winter sports body, and Mexico's Mario Vazquez Rana, president of the Association of National Olympic Committees.
    The terms of all three officials expire next year. Under IOC rules, they would have to wait two years before seeking a return to the board. However, the IOC agreed Saturday to waive the rule, allowing them to run for further four-year terms at next year's IOC session before the Beijing Games.

— The Associated Press