Oswald heads up Olympic commission for London 2012

by Sam Matthews, brandrepublic.com, Thursday, 25 August 2005, 2:00pm,

LONDON – The International Olympic Committee has selected Athens chairman Denis Oswald to head the coordination commission assisting London in preparing for the 2012 Games.

Oswald, an IOC member in Switzerland since 1991 and president of the International Rowing Federation, will liase with the organising commission and Olympic participating countries to ensure London delivers a successful games.

Jacques Rougge, IOC president, said: "With the success of Athens 2004, Denis has already demonstarted his ability to help lead the delivery of excellent Olympic games while under great pressure, bring partners together and resolving a wide range of difficult issues."

Executive director for the commission is Switzerland's Gilbert Felli, who is the current IOC executive director of the Olympic Games.

The other 15 coordination commission members were also named this week. They included Patrick Baumann from Switzerland; John Dowling Coates from Australia; Anita Defrantz from the US; Frank Fredericks from Namibia and Alex Gilady from Israel.

The first coordination commission meeting is due in Spring 2006. The IOC is making its first visit to London on August 25 with further visits scheduled throughout 2005.

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This article was first published on brandrepublic.com