Rita van Driel and Duane Kale appointed to IOC Coordination Commissions

Two International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Governing Board members – the Netherlands’ Rita van Driel and New Zealand’s Duane Kale - have been appointed to International Olympic Committee (IOC) Commissions.

Van Driel, who has been an IPC Governing Board member since 2009 and is currently chair of the IPC’s Development Committee, has been appointed to Co-ordination Commission Beijing 2022. The Committee will be chaired by Russian IOC member Alexander Zhukov who was the Chair of the Evaluation Commission for the Olympic Winter Games 2022, a group that also included van Driel.

Between 1998 and 2006, van Driel was Chairperson of the IPC Nordic Skiing Technical Commission and was the IPC representative on both the Evaluation Commission for the Olympic Winter Games 2010 and Co-ordination Commission Vancouver 2010.

Kale meanwhile, who was elected to the IPC Governing Board in 2013, will form part of the Evaluation Commission 2024. The New Zealander boasts a wealth of Paralympic Games experience having won four gold medals at the Atlanta 1996 Games and acted as New Zealand’s Chef de Mission for the 2008 and 2012 Paralympics.

The Evaluation Commission 2024 will be chaired by Namibia’s Frank Fredericks, an Olympic medallists and former Chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission. Currently four Candidate Cites – Budapest, Los Angeles, Paris and Rome - are bidding to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.