The World Athletics Athletes' Commission (© World Athletics)
The Athletes’ Commission is part of World Athletics’ decision-making process. It advises the Council on the athletes’ perspective(s) and serves as a link between the athletes and World Athletics.
The Athletes’ Commission is comprised of up to 18 members as follows:
- 12 members who are elected by their peers;
- Up to 6 other members, who are nominated by Member Federations and appointed by the Council.
Of the 12 elected members, 6 are elected at each World Athletics Championships, so there is an election of 6 athletes every 2 years. The term of appointment is generally 4 years, commencing on the appointment by the Council after the election at the World Athletics Championships and expiring 4 years later. The maximum number of terms that an Athlete can serve is 3 (i.e., 12 years).
The importance of athletes to decision-making within World Athletics has been recognised in its governance reform introduced by President Sebastian Coe in 2016. Since 2019, the Chairperson and one other member of the Athletes’ Commission are full voting members of the World Athletics Council.
The Athletes currently holding these positions on Council are Dame Valerie Adams (NZL, as Chair) and Matthew Hughes (CAN, as Deputy Chair).
The 18 members of the Athletes' Commission are:
Dame Valerie Adams – Chair
New Zealand 🇳🇿
Matthew Hughes – Deputy Chair
Canada 🇨🇦
Paola Bonilla
Ecuador 🇪🇨
Milcah Chemos Cheywa
Kenya 🇰🇪
German Chiaraviglio
Argentina 🇦🇷
Lisanne de Witte
The Netherlands 🇳🇱
Henry Frayne
Australia 🇦🇺
Diego Garcia Carrera
Spain 🇪🇸
Adam Gemili
Great Britain & Northern Ireland 🇬🇧
Ivet Lalova-Collio
Bulgaria 🇧🇬
Renaud Lavillenie
France 🇫🇷
Halimah Nakaayi
Uganda 🇺🇬
Aisha Praught-Leer
Jamaica 🇯🇲
Anna Ryzhykova
Ukraine 🇺🇦
Léa Sprunger
Switzerland 🇨🇭
Su Bingtian
China 🇨🇳
Jasmine Todd
United States of America 🇺🇸
Toshikazu Yamanishi
Japan 🇯🇵
For any questions, the Athletes' Commission can be reached on athletescomms@worldathletics.org.