GUYANA’S Commonwealth Games 400m gold and silver medallist, Aliann Pompey, will serve as the next president of the PanAm Sports Athlete Commission.
Pompey, 41, was elected at the first meeting with the new PanAm Sports Athlete Commission members, who were chosen by the more than 6 600 athletes who competed at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games.
The new Athlete Commission members met and held the election on December 6 at the Pan Am Sports headquarters in Mexico City.
Only the three standing members of the Athlete Commission who were elected at Toronto 2015 – Carlos Santiago (PUR – Judo), Adriana Escobar (ESA – Rowing) and Aliann Pompey (GUY – Athletics) – were eligible to be elected as president of the commission.
Both Pompey and Santiago stood for the election, with the six members present, participating in the election.
“Honestly, I was a little bit surprised,” Pompey said following her election as the new president of the PanAm Sports Athlete Commission.
“I wanted to give it a shot because I think it’s a tremendous honour to lead the Commission and it was obviously something I would love to do. So I’m very, very happy with the outcome. It is a lot of work and I quickly realised that, once we went through the timeline and what’s expected in the upcoming years; but I think we are a very collaborative group and with everyone working together we will do great things,” Pompey related.
Pompey, Escobar and Santiago are joined on the Athlete Commission by new members Isabel Swan (BRA – Sailing), Melissa Humana-Paredes (CAN – Beach Volleyball), Paola Longoria (MEX – Racquetball), Tony Azevedo (USA – Water Polo) and Amber Joseph (BAR – Cycling).
The new Members will stand on the Athlete Commission until the 2027 Pan American Games, while Pompey will serve as president through the Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games.
“We are all thrilled to be on the PanAm Sports Athlete Commission because it’s a way for us to have meaningful impact in our sport and region outside of actual competition. I have and continue to learn so much. It’s truly an enriching experience. In a few short years we’ve experienced the commitment of the PanAm Sports Executive staff to the Commission in making sure the athletes’ voice has infiltrated pretty much all of their operations,” Pompey added.
Pan Am Sports congratulated Pompey on her election as the president and look forward to working with her more closely over the next four years to ensure the athlete voice is always considered in all decisions by PanAm Sports. Pompey will sit in on her first Executive Board meeting on December 15 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
ABOUT PANAM SPORTS
The Pan American Sports Organisation (PanAm Sports) is the leader of sport and the Olympic Movement in the Americas. We propel the development of sport and support our 41-member National Olympic Committee to inspire more participation in international competitions as well as participation of the youth to prepare the generation to come in our region.
Pan Am Sports works closely with athletes, National Olympic Committees (NOC), Organising Committees of all regional games, Pan American Sport Confederations, International Federations (IF) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to secure the success and celebration of our main event, the Pan American Games.
