Nebiolo Named to IOC Post

Primo Nebiolo, president of track and field’s international governing body, received his long-sought appointment to the International Olympic Committee on Saturday at Lausanne, Switzerland.

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch made the announcement at a council meeting of the International Amateur Athletic Federation, which Nebiolo heads.

“It is necessary to strengthen still further the existing close ties between the IAAF and the IOC,” an IOC statement said.

Samaranch last month was given the power to name two at-large members to the IOC, a bylaws change made specifically for Nebiolo, who was frustrated for more than a decade in his efforts to become an IOC member.

Committee membership is limited to two people from each country, and Italy already had two IOC members. Nebiolo argued that as president of one of the world’s most powerful sports bodies, he deserved to be on the IOC.