Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud has officially been elected as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Friday.
It’s a history-making moment, as she becomes the first Saudi female ambassador to be appointed as a member of the IOC.
Upon her official appointment, the princess took to Twitter to share how “honoured” she was to be elected onto the committee.
“Thank you to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, HRH Crown Prince, and Prince Abdul Aziz bin Turki Al-Faisal [President of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee] for their support,” she added. “It has been an honour to serve my community through the universal language of sports.”
Honored to be elected as a member of #IOC. Thank you to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, HRH Crown Prince, and @AbdulazizTF for their support. It has been an honor to serve my community through the universal language of sports. @iocmedia @saudiolympic pic.twitter.com/vLsNltgz0c
— Reema Bandar Al-Saud (@rbalsaud) July 17, 2020
She is the third Saudi to be appointed into this position. Prior to her, the late Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Bin Abdulaziz held the position from 1983 to 1999 and Prince Nawwaf Bin Faisal Bin Fahd held it from 2001 to 2014.
Princess Reema, who is Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States and the first female in the position, is joined by four other new candidates to be appointed to the IOC.
The appointment of Princess Reema to the IOC is a pivotal moment, but is also not surprising given her background and advocacy for sports in the Kingdom.
Prior to being appointed the Saudi ambassador for the US in 2019, Princess Reema was the first woman in the Kingdom to lead a multi-sports federation, becoming president of the Mass Participation Federation in October 2018.
She also been a member of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee since 2017 and of the IOC Women in Sports Commission since 2018.
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