(Reuters) – South Korea’s Kim Jae-youl was elected president of the International Skating Union (ISU) on Friday, becoming the first non-European to head the world governing body.
Kim won 77 out of 119 votes at the congress in Phuket, Thailand ahead of the United States’ Patricia St Peter (24), Finland’s Susanna Rahkamo (13) and Serbian Slobodan Delic (five).
“I want to be the president for all federations in this room, regardless of the branch, region and size,” said Kim, who was president of the Korea Skating Union (KSU) between 2011-2016 and has been a member of the ISU Council since 2016.
“We are all one family, and we will work together to make our sport great,” added the 53-year-old, who will replace Dutchman Jan Dijkema.
Of the 79 medals South Korea have won at the Winter Olympics, 75 have come in figure skating, short track and speed skating.
At the last Winter Games in Beijing both of Korea’s gold medals came in short track, though the disqualification of two skaters in the men’s 1,000 metres semi-finals triggered a furore in the country.
South Korea’s Olympic Committee (KSOC) said it would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over the disqualifications but later dropped plans to do so.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
