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The election and voting to determine the one representative for each of the 11 Olympic events will take place during the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships in Cascais, Portugal.

All nominations to the Athletes Commission must be received at the ISAF Secretariat by 16:00 UTC on Monday 25 June 2007, with a proposer and seconder (one of which may be the nominated athlete). CLICK HERE for more details.

The athletes which have been nominated to date are as follows:

• Women's RS:X - Olga MASLIVETS (UKR)
• Men's RS:X - Benjamin BARGER (USA)
• Men's 470 - Andreas KOSMATOPOULOS (GRE)
• Star - Brad NICHOL (USA)
• Tornado - Konstantinos TRIGONIS (GRE)
• Yngling - Sofia BEKATOROU (GRE)
• Laser Radial - Laura BALDWIN (GBR)

There may be more than one nomination per event, and athletes are encouraged to consider being nominated for this important role.

Role

The role of the Athlete's Commission is to:

• Be a non-political consultative body which can offer advice and assistance to ISAF on matters and issues of relevance to athletes and act as a link between the Olympic sailors and ISAF
• Ensure that the athletes' points of view are presented to ISAF
• Ensure respect of the rights of the athletes within the sport and draw up recommendations to that effect
• Promote high standards of sportsmanship and ethical performance when competing/participating
• Relate immediately to athletes competing/participating at the highest level and establish relationships to promote feedback to ISAF on matters concerning elite athletes
• Establish a working group responsible for liaison with ISAF for ISAF Events to help ISAF respond to the needs of the athletes
• May put forward its recommendations/proposals to the ISAF Executive Committee for consideration

ISAF organizes one meeting each year, which is held at the ISAF Secretariat usually in late September or early October. ISAF covers travel, accommodation and sustenance for this meeting, which is usually held over two days during a weekend. Other meetings are co-ordinated by the Athletes' Commission at ISAF Graded events. At this meeting, a representative of the ISAF Executive Committee is present and the Athletes Commission can make recommendations directly to the ISAF Executive Committee.

The Athletes Commission Athletes is expected to represent the interests of Olympic sailors to ISAF, and to encourage open communication and feedback from the sailors.

In the future the athletes elected will serve a four-year term, although for this election the term will be two years, 2007-2009, to align with the Olympic quadrennial. An athlete may serve as the ISAF Athlete Commission representative for a maximum of two terms. Athletes nominated cannot be an officer or paid employee of their MNA and/or Class Association and simultaneously serve on the ISAF Athletes Commission.

For a complete list of all the news about the ISAF Athletes' Commission and news related to the Athletes' Commission CLICK HERE.