The IOC Athletes' Commission is a body maintained by the International Olympic Committee for the purpose of representing athletes. It was established in 1981 by the then-President of the IOC, Juan Antonio Samaranch, and its creation was subsequently codified by the IOC in Rule 21 of the Olympic Charter.
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Functions
The Commission is a consultative body whose function is to act as "the link between active athletes and the IOC". It makes recommendations to the IOC's executive bodies, and its chair serves as a member of the IOC Executive Board.
The Commission meets once or twice a year, and organises an Athletes' Forum once every two years. It works in liaison with similar athletes' commissions of the Continental Associations, individual National Olympic Committees and the International Sports Federations.
Membership
12 members are elected to the Commission by Olympic athletes for a term of eight years. In addition, the President of the IOC may appoint up to seven further members, "to ensure a balance between regions, gender and sports", and there are two ex-officio members: one from the World Olympians Association, and one from the International Paralympic Committee.
The elected members are usually also elected to the IOC itself shortly after becoming members of the Commission, and serve on the IOC for the duration of their membership of the Commission.
Elections
An election for Commission members is held at each edition of the Olympic Games, with members being chosen by a secret ballot of the athletes competing at those Games. Candidates must themselves have competed either in those Games or in the previous ones of the same series.
Four members are elected at each Summer Games and two at each Winter Games. They replace the group that were elected at the Games of the same series eight years earlier. In the initial elections in 2000 and 2002, a second set of members was elected for four years; this filled all of the 12 places on the Commission and allowed the staggering process to begin.
The table below lists the members returned at each election. The division of members into four 'classes' is not the practice of either the IOC or the Commission, but is included here to help show the process more clearly.